Sermon Brief
Date Written: August 19, 2009
Date Preached: August 23, 2009
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Murder and Robbery in the Fellowship!
Sermon Title: The “That’s Not My Gift” Believer!
Sermon Text: Mark 5:1-20 [NASB]
Introduction:
So far over the past 3 weeks we have seen how legalism, apathy and a negative attitude and approach to ministry can be greatly destructive within the body of Christ.
When believers do or say things that tear at the fabric of the fellowship, we hurt our witness to the world around us. As I said last week, our approach to ministry must be above reproach, as James said, PURE and GENUINE…
Today I want to address another believer who has the tendency to kill the fellowship and steal the joy of a church and that is the “that’s not my gift” OR the “I can’t do that…” believer.
This type of believer does not sound too dangerous, but WOW! - it can really hinder God at work in the life of the church – and this morning I want us to take a look at story in the Gospel of Mark and we are going to focus in on a person in that story... the Garaseian Demoniac.
We all like stories right? Well, this is a great story - lets look at Mark 5:1-20
1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 As soon as He got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met Him. 3 He lived in the tombs. No one was able to restrain him any more—even with chains — 4 because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 And always, night and day, he was crying out among the tombs and in the mountains and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice, "What do You have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God, don’t torment me!" 8 For He had told him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 9 "What is your name?" He asked him. "My name is Legion," he answered Him, "because we are many." ...pause after verse 9 and explain the story
This passage has all elements of a great story… it has drama, intrigue, mystery, danger, confrontation, a classic struggle between good and evil and finally a happy ending.
We find this man who is tormented by demons… cutting himself, living in a cemetery, and strong enough to scare everyone else away! Now today if we were to see such a man, we may say that he was tormented by mental illness…or some sort of chemical imbalance in his brain that caused him to act like he did…
I believe fully in the idea of demon possession because Satan is a strong enemy and he has many minions that he uses to attack us. But I also know that mental illness has long been associated with the possession on demons.
And quite frankly it makes NO difference if it was actual demon possession OR mental illness… JESUS healed this man and brought him back to his right mind! Jesus delivered him from his malady and restored peace to his heart and soul.
Another aspect to this part of the story is found in v.2 when it tells us that Jesus got out of the boat. It mentions no one else getting out of the boat, only Jesus. Now this tells us that Jesus initiated the contact…that Jesus went TO this man! He may have been raving about on the shoreline BUT Jesus got out of the boat and went to him!
This reveals something wonderful about our Savior… He comes after us… He is proactive in his seeking… Likewise he got out of the boat and went TO this man with the evil spirit.
No matter how far gone we may believe someone has ventured… they are NEVER too far from the reach of our Savior. He is ready and willing to step out of the boat and into saving those in need!
10 And he kept begging Him not to send them out of the region. 11 Now a large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. 12 The demons begged Him, "Send us to the pigs, so we may enter them." 13 And He gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd of about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there. 14 The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed by the legion, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 The eyewitnesses described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and [told] about the pigs. 17 Then they began to beg Him to leave their region. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Him to be with Him. 19 But He would not let him; instead, He told him, "Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you." 20 So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.
...then after verse 20 –
Now here is one point that many may miss on this story, but I find it to be pretty important and a great picture of how important we are to God.
Jesus was concerned with the restoration of a soul FIRST and foremost and that is exactly how we need to see the lost… as a HIGH priority for our fellowship!
In reading this passage we can see that after this man was restored, his humanity comes out. He wants what HE wants and he practically begs Jesus to let him come with Him… he wants to follow Jesus!
And I find that is the way we are as well. When we come to Jesus and when we are reconciled by the blood of Christ, we are saved, but our humanity still rears its ugly head from time to time!
Instead of looking to Christ and saying, “Where and what would You have me do Lord?” We begin to make demands on Christ, we attempt to convince Him to let us do what WE want to do. It is as if we are sitting at His feet and telling Him what we need to do… or how things should be done!
How ridiculous does that sound? Us telling Jesus what needs to be done and where we need to go or serve? It’s like us trying to tell Bill Gates he knows nothing about computers or business. Can you imagine how he would react if one of his employees came in his office to ‘tell’ him how to do things? He would probably laugh at them or get angry with them… they could even lose their jobs…
But we do it every day as believers and I am so glad though that we serve a kind, patient and loving Savior! Because He could laugh at us, He could get angry with us… but He chooses to be kind and loving and continues to push us in the right direction. Sometimes His correction may seem harsh and difficult, but we must know that He knows what is best.
Now when we look at this passage we can see that Jesus reacted as God reacts to us. Jesus did not condemn him for his selfish request but was very straight forward with him and told him to stay in this region and for him to “Go and tell!” others about what had happened to him!
Jesus loved him and directed him as Jesus saw fit… Jesus knew what was best for him and for the Kingdom. So we find Jesus sending this newly restored man back to his town and to the region where he lived as a missionary of sorts…to tell his story!
But let’s also look at the reaction of the people to this man! It was the total opposite of how Jesus reacted. These people were more concerned about the economic issues and the loss of the pigs than they were about what had happened! They could not see the eternal change for this man, but only the temporary loss of STUFF.
As believers, I think that we find ourselves in that very frame of mind very often! We are more affected by what WE deem to be important than we are the eternal implications and results of Jesus changing someone’s life!
Let me give you an example of what I mean. As a pastor, I have heard this argument many, many times… it goes something like this, “Preacher! You are trying to change this church! You bring in all this new fangled stuff with your screens, and projectors and your “rock band” music… you are destroying MY church! You should be wearing a tie when you preach! You should be carrying your Bible around with you as you preach! We don’t need these screens! We should be singing songs out of the hymnal!”
The focus of members with these attitudes is all wrong! Now you may not agree with me on this matter, but what is more important… the method of our worship OR the message of our worship!
Do you think that eternity rests on HOW we do things in our worship service? I am here to tell you that the METHOD is not the important thing, and that the METHOD is always going to change… but the important thing is not HOW we do things, but WHAT we do and WHAT we say!
Our message must preach Christ crucified, Christ risen, and Christ only for salvation…regardless of how we do it! Many believers have come to the point where they disagree with HOW things are done, and they make the leap to the conclusion that if they don’t like HOW it is done…then it must be wrong!
Let me ask you a question… to all our grandparents out there… Do you love your children and grandchildren? You love them so much that in many ways you have made changes in your life to accommodate them! Well I ask you, do you love them enough to change the WAY worship is done so that THEY can see Christ?
Change is always a frightful thing and many of us are scared to death and resist it with great passion…clinging to our old way of doing things. I am the same way, but change is an ever present FACT of life.
Look at how you live your lives today… it is radically different from how you lived it 20 yrs ago! How many of you have a cell phone? How many of you have cable or satellite TV? These things 20 yrs ago were almost non-existent but now are everyday facts of life!
I say all that to say this… change is NOT the enemy here, but our attitude of “I can’t” is… When we say, “I can’t” we are really telling Jesus “I won’t”! Like I said last week, I have been called by God here to lead this church, and I am NOT going to lead this church away from God!
I am leading this church by the directions God is giving me… through my study of the Word and through my prayer life! I am not a dictator, but I am also not going to be swayed from what I believe God wants for this fellowship, and if it involves change… and a different way of doing things, I am going to do it!
And so, like I have already said, many come to the point where they think, “I just can’t…” and what it really means is that “I just WON’T” but let me ask you a question.
Have you ever found yourself on the outside looking in when it comes to ministry because you have taken the position that, “you can’t!”? and then later you realized that your position on this matter was wrong and that you had missed out on a great blessing from God because you said… “I can’t”?
Well I have! Yes, I have been to the land of “I can’t” and I don’t have good memories of it. When I was younger and living in Colorado, we were attending church and I was helping with the youth. One day, several men of the church approached me and asked me to serve as a deacon. I can remember my response to this day…
I told them “I can’t”! I told them that I could not serve as a deacon because I was not ready yet! I couched my answer in spiritual terms, but basically my excuse for not being willing to serve as a deacon was… “I can’t!”
To this day I have regretted my decision, and I believe that God was not pleased by my decision. Right after that decision there were some things that began to happen in the church that I truly believe I could have helped with but I was on the outside looking in because I had told God, “I can’t”
To this day, I truly believe that God was calling me to serve Him! I answered God’s call by saying “I can’t”… this revealed that I did not trust Him… so I ran away! I had a Jonah attitude… I had an attitude that I knew what was best.
And so now as a pastor I see so many believers say the same thing… they say “I can’t…Their reasons are all different as to WHY they can’t or WHY they won’t, but they have made up their minds that they just CAN’T, and I see how devastating this is to the church… to our fellowship!
When believers take the attitude of “I can’t…” for whatever reason, we run into a very dangerous area. We find ourselves, going thru the motions of service but not actually DOING what Christ has called us to do… we find ourselves in an endless loop of perpetual Christian BUSY work… looking all busy but getting NOTHING done for the Kingdom, all because we don’t want to change because we have this “I can’t” attitude about us!
I want you all here to hear what I am about to say… I am not saying that ALL of you take this “I can’t” attitude, because I have witness a very positive and willing attitude from many of our members as I have asked them to step out of their comfort zones and get into serving Christ.
So I know that we have many church members willing to do what Christ is calling us to do… but I am not naïve and I am not a simpleton, I also know that there are those within this fellowship who do NOT like the way I am doing things, and they do NOT like the direction I am taking this church and they have a “I can’t” attitude!
But I want us to know that this ‘condition’ is NOT limited to the believers of our generation. You see, the disciples faced this same temptation - In Matthew 17... (read Matt. 17: 1-7 – Transfiguration)
1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."
Upon seeing the glory of Jesus, like the Demoniac, Peter, James and John wanted to stay where they were… build tents and not go. They wanted to keep things the same, they did not want to change! But God reveals to these disciples that their mission is a mission of GOING not staying… a mission of DOING and not merely LEARNING…
James tells us in his letter to the church that we are called to be DOERS of the word and not merely HEARERS only… we are called to get into the game! So after God had revealed Jesus to Peter James and John we find that He shares with them that they must GO…
5 He [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Now I truly believe that those who are truly and radically changed by Christ desire to be used by God for Kingdom purposes. And I truly believe that if you are fully sold out to Christ…you will see ‘no one but Jesus only’ as v.8 tells us! For the “I can” believers here today, you know what I am talking about… when our focus is on Jesus, the HOW things fade away, because we understand the WHY!
But when it comes to ANY follower of Christ, I am a firm believer that 2 things must take place...
1st and foremost, we cannot be used by God until we have had that true, life changing encounter with God. Every changed life, every person that God has ever used – has had an encounter with Him.
All of our encounters with God are NOT going to be as dramatic as the Transfiguration of Jesus or the healing of the Gaderean Demoniac, but isn’t it amazing how God speaks and we hear His voice and our hearts and lives are changed radically and forever?
So first we must have a supernatural and saving encounter with Jesus!
2nd, and I believe almost equally important is the fact that we must be fully submitted to God… we must be willing to surrender our lives to Him… Scripture tells us that if we want to follow Him that we must first deny ourselves!
Now this submission is probably THE MOST difficult thing for most people because it takes a COMPLETE trust in Christ… it takes you becoming totally vulnerable TO God…
But Satan is a strong and mighty enemy, and his one job is to stop and disrupt God using you for His kingdom, and so if he can, he will try to stop you from hearing and listening to God’s direction in your life…He will try to convince you to NOT submit… to NOT give into the control of the Holy Spirit in your life!
Now as a child of God, you are in God’s hands and cannot be taken from Him, BUT… Satan is powerful and He can deceive you to make you think that all is lost and that God isn’t paying attention or that God doesn’t care about what you think.
But one of the more subtle ways Satan works, is that he can convince believers that they are not able to serve because of lack of qualifications or because things are being done right…or whatever!
Satan fills our ears with things like, “Hey, I know God wants to use you - but you aren’t ready...” “You need another class” OR “Can you believe they are doing things this way! I just can’t serve if this is the way you are going to do it!”
And there are many of us who when we hear that from him, we make up in our minds that we cannot move fwd… and so we wait and we don’t act as God has called us to act…
But what I want you to know is that God has a different pattern in mind for us! Learning about Him is a good thing and we cannot ignore that, but God’s desire is that we get into the world and share!
I also understand the reluctance some of you have when it comes to how things are done! Change can be difficult, change can be scary, but we have to be willing to do what needs to be done to share Christ with the world around us. If that makes you uncomfortable, I am here to say I understand, but that doesn’t change the fact that we need to do it!
I love each and every one of you here and I don’t preach sermons like these to scold you, but to open your eyes to the TRUTH of the Gospel… to the CALLING of our Savior on our lives!
We are called by God to share His love in every part of our lives! Sometimes that means we have to ‘go thru Samaria’ and be uncomfortable to do it… but we need to trust God! And I am asking you to trust me as your leader that I am doing what I am doing only because it is what God is leading me to do!
In all the ascension scenes of Scripture when Jesus is about to go back up to heaven, Jesus issues a challenge to His followers:
In Matt 28 Jesus said, GO and make disciples and baptize in my name!
In Mark 16 Jesus said, GO preach the Gospel and baptize in my name!
In Luke 24 Jesus said, you are My witnesses, PROCLAIM the Gospel to all nations!
In John 21 Jesus said, Don’t worry what I have called those around you to do, YOU follow Me!
In Acts 1:8 Jesus told them that they were witnesses… the implication was GO!
My point about all this is that there is ACTION involved in each account of this story! Jesus was calling for His believers… His witnesses to be ACTIVE in their service to Him!
Have you ever wondered why the book right after the Gospels is entitled, “The ACTS of the Apostles” and not “The Learning Curve of the Apostles”? Jesus called them to go… and they went!
And I firmly believe that OUR service to God is just the same... We are called and drawn by God to GO… it is God’s intention for us to pour out our lives in service to Him and He has promised that He will not abandon us when we serve Him!
So if this is the calling of our Savior, why do we have SO many believers who sit on the sidelines and say to themselves and all who are around them, “I can’t”! Why is this happening in our church today and how do we reverse that trend?
Well I believe that the answer is very simple! You may think my answer is FAR TOO simple, but the answer is that we get busy and begin to serve... The answer is that those of us who claim Christ as Savior… that we begin to pour out our lives as God has called us to do… and when we begin to do this we are going to have a great and positive affect on those around us…
By becoming the vessel through which Christ is magnified and lifted up…
By becoming the vessel that refuses to believe “I can’t” but insists that “I can do all things thru Christ who gives me strength!”
By becoming the willing vessel that shares the love of Christ, and then we will see others come to know the Savior and their lives be filled with Christ as well…
The question is; “are you ready to pour yourself out to the community?” Are you ready to live the life that God has called you to live? Are you ready to plow today so that you will see a harvest tomorrow?
But preacher, how can I do this? What can I do to pour myself out? Here are some very practical and basic ways in which you can pour yourself out for the Kingdom in such a way that you are pleasing to God.
Be willing to be used by God… NOT served by Him or His church!
Be willing to be called upon by God… NOT coddled and comforted!
Be willing to be sent out by God… NOT settling to SIT in the pew!
Be willing to GIVE to God all of who you are…NOT expecting to get the blessings promised! Yes God blesses us, but we don’t serve FOR the blessing, we serve out of obedience and faith, the blessing is merely a fringe benefit for the believer who is obedient!
Today you may be sitting here and you have realized that God has called you to be active in our Children’s ministry? Lord knows we need workers in that ministry! Are you going submit to Him today?
You may be sitting there saying to yourself, “preacher, I am too old for that!” OR you may be saying, “preacher, I have DONE my time, its time for someone else to take over!”
My answer to you on that matter is simply this, where in Scripture does it set a retirement age for ministry? Caleb claimed victory and desired to serve at the age of 80. Moses was 80 when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Age is NOT a factor to God! We need to remember what Jesus said, “With God all things are possible… but without Him we can do NOTHING!”
Maybe today God has revealed to you the absolutely TERRIFYING idea that you should be working in our Youth Ministry of our church? Not that our youth are terrifying but Youth ministry does scare a great deal of people! “Preacher, I am TOO old… preacher I don’t know how I could relate to them…”
While all of your excuses may seem rational and sound to you, if God has called you to serve… God has called you and is going to equip you to serve… wherever that place of service may be!
So the question is not, “Will God call me to serve?” but the question is, “Where is God calling me to serve? And then after that it is “Am I willing to serve where God is calling me?” Are you going to be the “I can’t” believer who finds excuses and tries to reason with God to get your way? Or are you the willing and submissive believer who is sold out to Christ?
In our passage this morning we see a man whose life is radically changed… we see a man who is saved from a bondage he could never deliver himself from…
This changed man wanted to go in one direction but Jesus sent him in another direction. When we come to know Jesus as Savior, we are radically changed and delivered from the bondage of sin which had held us in fear and doubt! We are delivered and redeemed!
Like this man, we fall at the feet of Jesus and want to be in His presence forever, but Jesus has called us to GO FORTH… not to sit! Go and pour out our lives to the lost world around us! Are you GOING today? Are you pouring out your life to the lost around you today?
The man or woman in any fellowship of believers who focuses on “I can’t” tears down that fellowship and is disobedient to Christ in His calling on their lives! Are you that believer this morning? I call on you to surrender your heart to Jesus today and get in the game! Don’t wait!
I want to ask you all to stand as Bro Steven comes and we sing that chorus, “Open the eyes of my heart…” I want you to be praying where you stand and if you feel called to step out and accept and acknowledge where God is leading you… I call on you to come forward and give it to God… surrender to Him this morning! Come as Bro Steven leads us…
