I Kings 19:1-15a
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39
I have one question for us to think about today. The question is, “What has God done for you?” As I read this text in Luke, I asked myself, “What did God in Jesus Christ really do for this man?” How did the Gerasene man become possessed? What was his life like before he was overcome by his demons? We can’t know for sure we can only guess, for Luke gives us only a few details about this man: he lives in the Gerasa region south east of the Sea of Galilee across from the modern city of Tiberias in Northern Israel, he wore no clothes, he was unbalanced and unstable, and he lived in the tombs amongst the dead. People would not go near him. The possessed man was unruly, dangerous and violent. He was a threat to the Gerasene people.
Jesus the Christ is not phased by these circumstances. Courageously, calmly and unafraid, he walks into the tormented life of the Gerasene man, this madman, whose life is coming apart at the seams. He brought peace for his troubled soul. He changed him. He cleansed him. He turned his life around. He gives him a new beginning, a new start, a new birth.
This is great! You’d think the Gerasenes would be joyful and excited over what had happened, but they are not. To the Gerasenes, Jesus is seen as a troublemaker. The Gerasenes were a Gentile community of great wealth and prosperity. They were content with the status quo. They learned to tolerate and put up with the demonic man, who was once possessed and naked, and now he is healed and dressed. I believe they are afraid of Jesus because they are worried what will this Jesus do next upsetting their prosperous lives. The Gerasenes only saw a man who disturbing the peace, upsetting the status quo. They couldn’t see what God had done to bring healing and wholeness and peace to a once tormented, unstable man. They allowed their greed, their desire for control, and their fear of the unknown to blind them from the new creation God created in their midst.
God in Christ Jesus wants to do for each of us what he did for this man filled with the legion of demons. Without Christ guiding our steps, we are people wandering aimlessly through life latching on to whatever feels right at that moment. Without Christ, we are wrapped in chords that we can not cut or untie ourselves. Without Christ, we believe “I can do all things through me who strengthens me.”
Without Christ, we are nothing! I am nothing without my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God in Christ Jesus is the only one who can give us the strength we need to work through our suffering and trying circumstances; the one to untie the chords we can’t unbind. When we allow Christ to enter into our hearts, when we give the controls over to Christ, it is then we begin to change and be transformed. We are a new creation. We get a fresh start, a second chance, a do-over, a new beginning through faith in Christ. God in Christ is our creator, our redeemer and our sustainer.
The Gospel has a way of turning our lives, the world upside down, overturning the status quo, and bringing you and me out of our secure, safe comfort zones. I have heard it said that God loves us for who we are, but too much to let us stay that way. What has God done for you?
My family used to be in the horseshoe business. Kennedy-Foster Incorporated was at one time the number one supplier of horseshoes from Maine to Florida. I remember hearing about how horseshoes where made the old-fashioned way from my grandfather. I don’t remember the specific details of this process, but I do remember it took a lot of work. With gigantic tongs, the blacksmith was constantly pulling the iron in and out of the fire, removing any impurities, constantly hammering and shaping it into its proper shape, and cooling it in water to allow the metal to harden. I was amazed at how the blacksmith could take ordinary iron and steel and forge a horseshoe from it.
You and I started from ordinary circumstances. Each of us came into the world as a small infant. All we knew to do was eat, cry and make a messy diaper. Our potential and possibilities at that point in time were without limits and boundaries. As we grew older, we learned and mastered all kinds of skills and abilities, some common and some unique to ourselves. Like a blacksmith, we are hammered, forged and shaped like a horseshoe into something special, something extraordinary by God in Christ. With Christ, in Christ, and through Christ, we are able to do great and marvelous things in His name and for His glory.
But like the demonic man, somewhere along the line, through the experiences of life, our train gets derailed. We are cruising along the highway of life one minute, hit a rough patch of road and we’re off in a ditch. Unexpected circumstances push us over the edge. Our priorities get turned upside down. Without knowing it, we turn away from God. We trick ourselves to think that God is not with us because we are suffering and life as we know it is unbearable. Without realizing it, we conclude we don’t need God for anything. This life of mine, it’s all me. It’s all my doing.
Unless I’ve missed my guess, there are many of us here today who have gone through or who are currently in a season of life with Christ in the back seat and our own desires, pleasures, friendships, academic and athletic pursuits, family obligations and more up front in the driver’s seat. There is someone here today who has wondered, “Why do I need God in my life? I’m a good person. I do good things for others. What difference does it make?”
These are the times when the evil one gets a hold of us and clings ever so close. We become oblivious to the truth. When we are successful in life, it is easy to convince ourselves that “I did it. I got the A+ on the exam. I got the raise at work. I won the race. I gave the best sermon ever preached.” We think it’s all about us. Sin can easily mislead us into believing we are living in a Park Avenue penthouse while we are really living among the ruins of our life. We become fearful, anxious, self-reliant and self-defeating. In time, when or lose the peace, security, success and comfort we were accustomed to, we realize that there is something missing from our lives. And as if we awoke from a bad dream we wonder to ourselves, “Who am I? How did I get here?”
What has God done for you? Did God create the universe, the stars, the planets, our Earth and its inhabitants? Yes. Did God create us or as the psalmist wrote, “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb…I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”?[1] Yes. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the love we feel for our friends and family, the hope we have in the future? Yes, of course. Did God raise Jesus from the dead? Yes! Yes! Yes! Our God is sovereign, all-powerful. God can do everything and anything God wants to do. And God has done everything!
For even when “circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans, God is not helpless among the ruins. Our broken lives are not lost or useless. God comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out his wonderful plan of love.”[2]
What has God done for you? For the possessed man, God in Jesus Christ took a tormented soul and set him free from his calamity. For you and me, God offers us a way out. In Jesus Christ, God released us from the power of sin and conquered death so through faith in Him we may be healed and be made whole again. God has given us the ultimate victory through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We don’t have to be controlled by fear anymore. With faith in Christ, we don’t have to be controlled by anxiety anymore. With faith in Christ, “our weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”[3] With faith in Christ, the big, bad world with all its problems is no longer something to be afraid of. It’s a place of freedom, a place to play, thrive, grow and experience the grace and love of God.
We are being hammered, forged and shaped into a new creation through faith in Christ Jesus. God takes the ruins of our lives and turns them into something useful and life-giving; a place of hope and healing. “He set our feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”[4] You are a new creation! You are a masterpiece hammered, forged and shaped! You are a work of art formed by the creator of the universe.
What has God done for you? He gave us a way out. “He turned our mourning into dancing.”[5] Jesus the Christ, the one who took our place, we are His by grace, so we have someone to live for.
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