Luke 8:26-39
"Tell the Story"
Last week I received a message from from a guy named Brian; he had looked me up on Facebook.
I admit that I did not immediately recognize the name, but once I started reading the message, I remembered him quite well.
Brian is now a meteorologist at a
t-v station in Shreveport, Louisiana, but back when I knew him he was a college freshman at Mississippi State, and an intern at the CBS television station where I was a reporter.
This would have been back in 1995.
I remember that Brian and I "hit it off" well as he came along to help me with stories.
But during that time, I was a terribly conflicted young man.
I was lonely, unhappy, and dead inside.
I hated my job; I was disappointed with life, and I knew I was not doing what God had called me to do.
So, this is the reason I was a bit surprised by what Brian wrote:
"Hey Ken!!! You may not remember me.
We worked together at WCBI-TV in Columbus back in the day.
I was thinking about you since they have me reporting along with my main duties as a meteorologist here at my station in Shreveport, Louisiana.
I remember how laid back and 'chill' you were about reporting and I am not...
...I just started having to report along with doing the weather recently, and I remember how good you were at it.
I really struggle with it."
Gee, I never thought I was very good.
My best friend from t-v times--Scott is also a friend on Facebook.
Scott was a bit of a mentor to me.
He now works at a big station in Cleveland, Ohio and can often be seen reporting on CNN.
A number of times, he has told me how much he misses working with me, and tells me that we made a great team.
I'm telling you this because this surprises me.
Again, I hated t-v, and I thought I was about the illest fit for it in the world!!!
Even though we might think people can see through to the way we really feel; we never quite know what is going on inside of others.
Those who seem to be calm and cool on the outside, may be--in reality--"living among the tombs."
Those who appear to "have it all together" and seem happy might just be about ready to collapse.
I had been called to go into the ministry from an early age.
When I was 18 years old I had a born-again experience and was suddenly on fire for God!!!
I continued to plan for the ministry.
But I got off track.
And being "off track" is about the most miserable place one can be.
When I finally followed God's call for my life; I finally remembered what it was like to be happy, at peace, and excited about life!!!
That's just a wee-tiny bit of my story.
What's your story?
Where have you been?
Where were you when Jesus found you?
Because that's what Jesus does, you know?
Jesus seeks us out, like lost sheep.
Jesus searches for us like precious lost coins.
And when Jesus finds us, we are given a choice to fall into His arms.
And when that happens, our story changes forever.
Our lives are transformed and everything becomes new.
Life gains brand new meaning.
Broken-ness becomes wholeness.
Death becomes life.
Misery becomes joy.
Anxiety changes to excitement and peace.
And it continues, as long as we stay on track.
Life with Jesus is a journey, and it's not an easy journey...
...but it would be boring if it were easy.
It would also probably be fruitless if it was easy...
...for we live in a lost and fallen world and there is so much work to be done...
...in our lives and for the lives of others.
And besides, it sure wasn't easy for the Son of God--How could we expect it to be easy for us?
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, Jesus and His disciples take a boat trip in search of a very lost man.
The boat trip took them to a place which is on the opposite side from their home--Galilee.
It's kind of like "the other side of the tracks."
It's where the "non-Jews" lived.
It was a dirty, unclean place.
It was a dangerous place, and they step into a seemingly life and death situation as they find the man Jesus is looking for.
This man is driven by a legion of demonic forces; it's as if he is hardly even human anymore.
Evil, confusion, and darkness have so consumed this guy's thoughts and life that he no longer knows how to live with other people.
Instead, he lives in tombs, among the dead.
He is naked, unpredictable, violent, feared and alone.
We are told that the man was often so possessed that the townsfolk would have to put him in "leg irons and chains and [place] him under guard.
But he would break his restraints, and the demon would force him into the wilderness;" where he would be raving alone--left in places of extreme loneliness and despair.
How many folks in our neighborhoods and our world are living in places of extreme loneliness and despair?
When I was the pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church in Newport News, Virginia there was a night, just before people were to arrive for Bible study...
...when the local news trucks and reporters were using our parking lot as a spot to do a "live-shot" for the 6 o'clock news.
There had been a bad traffic accident down the street, and in the news business--if it bleeds, it leads!!!
So, I walked out and started talking with one of the reporters.
I told him, "I used to do what you are doing; now I'm the pastor of this church."
"I didn't like being a reporter, I was so unhappy, but I am so happy now."
This hit a chord with the young reporter I was speaking with.
He said, "Yeah, so you understand. This job seems so glamorous, but it's really not.
The pay is bad.
The hours are crazy, and here we are covering another car accident."
Please don't get me wrong; everyone who works in t-v is not unhappy, and there are very many wonderful and joy-filled Christians in the business...
...but you never know how miserable some people are.
For an extreme example, just look at the agony of Michael Jackson's life.
The "evangelists for the world" would tell us that this guy had it all.
He was beyond famous; he had millions...maybe billions of fans.
But inside, he was a complete wreck!!!
I can hardly imagine someone who was more unhappy and self-loathing.
I can hardly imagine someone who was filled with so many demons.
And yet, we continue to buy-into this "American Idol" kind of dream.
We want to get rich; we want to be famous; we want the big house and the nice cars.
Why do we think these things can save us from our misery?
In our Gospel Lesson, we are told that when the demon-possessed man "saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down before him."
Then he shouted, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?"
We are told that the demons "begged" Jesus "not to order them to go into the abyss,"--even if it meant entering a herd of pigs which turned out to be the means of their self-destruction.
"The herd [of pigs] rushed down the cliff into the lake and drown..." which in biblical symbolism means that they did, indeed, go back to the abyss.
And in the next scene "the man from whom the demons had gone, was sitting at Jesus' feet, fully dressed and completely sane."
Talk about a miracle!!!
What a reason for the people of that town and region to celebrate and give God the glory!!!
You'd think they would all be falling down at the feet of Jesus.
You'd think that they wouldn't want Jesus to leave--not ever!!!
But, odd as it may sound, we often choose to live with the devil we know rather than choose the freedom of which we know nothing about.
Were they were scared?
Perhaps they had found a certain comfort in knowing that there had been someone who was "worse-off" than they.
Maybe they didn't really want things to change.
After-all, Jesus does disrupt the order of things.
Anyhow, for whatever reason, they begged Jesus to get back in His boat and take a hike.
But, restored to his right mind, converted and transformed the cured man begs to get in the boat with Jesus and His other disciples.
And who can blame him?
In his home town, not only has he been rejected but Jesus has been rejected as well.
Kind of a scary idea to have to stay in this land.
And while Jesus regularly invites people to "Follow Me," this time Jesus commands the man to stay where he is and declare what God has done for him.
"Tell the story," Jesus commands him.
And then Christ, Who will never force His hand on anyone, got back into the boat and returned across the lake.
And the formerly demon-possessed man did follow Christ--in that he obeyed and he "went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him."
He didn't return to his old life; he lived into his transformed life!!!
And there is no other way to be a Christian.
You know, it's very interesting.
As those whom Christ has saved...
...as those whom Christ has called to be His Church--He has given us a Great Commission.
Jesus tells you and Jesus tells me:"go and make disciples...baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you...I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age."
So Jesus handed over the responsibility and the authority of "telling the story" to the man whom He had saved; to the man who had fallen at the feet of Jesus...
...to the man who was raised to new life through the power and love of Jesus...
...to the man who lived in this foreign and non-Jewish land!!!
The man became a "living testimony" to that city that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior--that Jesus saves!!!
If the man had gotten into that boat with Jesus, how easy it would have been for the people to forget what had happened.
But instead, it was always before them...
...the truth that sets people free!!!
All people, no matter what they do for a living; no matter how "chill" they may seem on the outside...
...all people need to be made well!!!
Until a person gives their life to Jesus Christ, whether it's obvious to the naked eye or not--they are living among the dead in a graveyard of despair and darkness.
And, amazingly, many people don't want to be made well.
They resist it, or they don't understand it, or they are still chasing the "false promises" of this world.
Fools GOLD!!!
Maybe they are just scared, and so they choose the devil they know over the freedom they don't know.
Whatever the reason, to refuse to make a choice for Jesus is to basically tell Him to get back in His boat and get lost.
And although Jesus doesn't force the hands of persons, He also doesn't give up on persons.
Thus, as the former demoniac was called to stay where he was and be "Jesus' testimony" to that region...
...we too, are called to witness where we live.
Everyone who has been saved by Jesus has a story to tell.
For if we have been found, we were once lost.
We are all called to be "living testimonies."
We are to tell the story.
We are to confront evil, sickness, demons, darkness, the lost and the lonely with the power of the story of what Jesus Christ has done for us and thus, what Jesus Christ can and will do for all who will believe!!!
This is why East Ridge United Methodist Church is here.
We are God's "Mission Outpost" for the message of Jesus Christ to these neighborhoods--this city.
We are called to tell the people in this section of East Ridge and North Georgia "how much God has done for [us]."
We are called to witness.
We are called to give hope to the hopeless and shine light in the darkness.
What an adventure!!!
What an exciting time to be a Christian.
What an exciting place to be!!!
When we live into who and what God is calling us to do and be we find life and life in abundance!!!
What is your story?
What has Jesus done in your life?
What does Jesus continue to do?
Are you telling the story?
