Revision 2024 In The Ministry Of Christ

III. Christ’s Encounter w/the Demoniac Demonstrates Principle: Recruit v. 18

A. Notice the Amazing Change in this Man’s Orientation to Christ.

1. This man’s orientation towards Christ had changed from v.7 “do not torment me!” to v.18 “Please take me with you!” Now friends, that’s a change!

2. You want to know what evidence of true conversion is? It’s not baptism. It’s not communion. It’s not tithing or church membership. It’s not having 100% correct doctrine. (All of these things are important!) It is a desire to be with Jesus! The man who had been set free by Jesus just wanted to be with Jesus. This man didn’t want only what Jesus could do for him. The true change in his heart was shown by his desire to be with Jesus. Do you want Jesus for what He can do for you or do you want Jesus for Jesus’ sake.

B. This Man Demonstrates that When Someone Truly Comes to Christ, He/She Will Want to Serve Christ!

1. The former demoniac named Legion instanly goes AWOL! He instantly goes from being a conscripted shock troop in the devil’s outfit to being a volunteer chaplain in Christ’s army! Look at this man! “Please let me join you, Jesus!” I want to come along! I want to help!

2. Often the church wastes too much time and effort in attempting to get people to serve.

a. Illust: Poor Pastor Richard trying to recruit teachers. Years ago trying to recruit teachers for a SCL class. Hadn’t been able to get response from a man asked. Saw wife at church. He asked her to relay message. Wife was angry: “Why do you know how busy my husband is?” (REW is much more kind than me. I would have responded: “No, has he told God?” Christian we need to rethink serving the Church. Serving the Church is serving Christ. Not a chore but an honor to teach WOG. Discipleship. Awana. OWLS. Serving. Making meals.

b. So one of the clearest indications that a person has believed the gospel of Jesus is that his selfish desire to be served begins to be overcome by a Christlike desire to serve. He starts looking for ways to do something for Christ’s church, especially in ways that will serve the gospel.

C. Applic: The Gospel of Grace is utterly astonishing! It turns sinners into servants!

IV. Christ’s Encounter w/the Demoniac Demonstrates Principle: Release vv.19-20

A. In Order to Be Released for Ministry One Must Know His/Her Calling for Ministry.

1. How does Jesus respond to this Fresh Convert’s Desire to Serve Him?

a. Christ directs the former demoniac to a specific ministry. This restored man was thought that his calling upon conversion was to become the 13th disciple! Why? That’s all he knew that’s all he had seen. Yet Jesus wanted to direct him to an even more appropriate and personalized ministry.

b. After being recruited to Christ’s Kingdom, we need to have assurance of our calling to a place of service in Christ’s Kingdom. Men of old used to call this the “internal call”, which is the inward, subjective desire on the part of the individual to serve the church and the personal sense that God has, in fact, chosen him/her for that task (1 Tim. 3:1). Yet we need not limit the internal call only to pastor/missionary. The Lord has not given the vocation of pastor to every Christian, but He has called all of us to serve others, and He gifts us differently so that each of us is equipped for a specific service. God has given each of us gifts that make us particularly well-suited for specific tasks, and we are responsible to discern these things so that we can find our way into the vocation that will best allow us to serve others with our talents. You can serve Christ in IT, 1st Responder, Business, Teaching, factory, farming, military, medicine, daycare, but you must be intentional and not passive about it!