Welcome to this edition of the Weekend Sermon. Thank you to all of you who read these sermons. I am sorry that I haven't been posting as regularly as I would like to as of late. There is a lot going on at work, and sometimes I am not able to get to the library during the hours that they are open. In the weeks to come, I hope to get back on the old schedule of reviews on Wednesdays and the sermon on Friday.
I want to thank the Lord for my job. I also want to thank the Lord for providing me with some more writing work this week. I quite unexpectedly was asked to write for a large internet company on a part-time basis. I am very grateful for this opportunity.
Continue to be in prayer for the people of Iraq. This country has know nothing but war and strife for the past several years. Please pray for peace, and continue to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters. Pray for the spread of the love of Jesus in Iraq.
Today, we continue with our series of messages on the miracles of Jesus. In our passage for this week, we find one of the more disturbing miracles that Jesus performed. In my opinion, this miracle has some aspects that are rather difficult to understand. It also provides a lot of meaning for today to those who are willing to look at what it has to teach.
Jesus had told His disciples that they were going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. While they were enroute, a great storm arose, and the disciples feared that they might perish. Jesus performed a great miracle by speaking the words of peace to calm the storm of nature and the storm of fear in the hearts of His followers.
Eventually, the disciples and Jesus landed in Gadara. When they came off of the boat, they were confronted by a man who was demon-possessed. He wore no clothes and lived in the graveyard. This man was wild. The people of the town had tried to chain him up, but the man was always able to break free.
When this man saw Jesus, the demons revealed that there were many of them possessing the man. They asked that Jesus not torment them before the time. Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man, and the demons were sent into a nearby herd of pigs. When the demons entered the pigs, the herd ran over a cliff into the sea and drowned themselves.
When the people of the village saw what had occurred, they were afraid. They asked Jesus to depart from their village. The man whose life had been restored asked to come along and become a follower of Jesus. However, Jesus told the man to, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you."
This miracle account from the life of Jesus has much to teach us today. One of the things that stands out to me right away is that Jesus cared about everyone, and He wanted to share His message of love with all people. Gadara was a Gentile city. However, Jesus wanted to go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to share His love with Jew and Gentile alike. Jesus also shared His love with those who were outcasts from society like this man who lived among the graves.
In our world today, there are a host of people who need to hear about Jesus. In many countries of the world, there are only a handful of Christians. The vast majority of the people have never heard the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.
Only 30 percent of the world's population claims to be Christian. That leaves 70 percent of the world at the very least who do not have a personal relationship with the risen Lord. It tells me that all of the followers of Jesus need to be about obeying the Great Commission to preach the Gospel to every one on this planet.
This miracle also teaches me that Jesus loved and cared about even those who the rest of society despised and who were thought to be beyond redemption. Jesus made sure to help a man who was filled with a legion of evil spirits.
There are many people with problems in the world, yet those in the church often reject them and turn them away. We often aren't like Jesus. We aren't helping the afflicted, we are just making them feel worse about themselves.
We as followers of Jesus need to condemn less and help more. I remember in the church that I grew up in as boy that they wouldn't help the homeless people because they said that they were all drug addicts and alcoholics. How different that is from the attitude of the Lord Jesus who reached out in love to even the most looked down upon people in society.
This miracle also demonstrates to me the power that wealth and greed can have upon people. When Jesus cast out the demons, they went into the pigs. The pigs not wanting to be a habitation of demons drowned themselves. Instead of being happy that a man was set free, the people were angry that their herd of pigs was gone. They cared more about profit than people.
This is true in our society today. Many of the major multi-national corporations exploit the poor and weak. They pay pitifully low wages and provide sub-standard working conditions. This is all done in the name of profit and providing value for shareholders. In many cases, churches and religious groups will invest in these companies thus joining the ranks of the exploiters and putting profit before people.
As members of the church of Jesus Christ, we should always put people above profit. We should stand for justice for workers and for the rights of the poor. The church should be the loudest voice of support for the exploited masses in this world today.
One other important aspect about this miracle that I would like to point out involves the reaction of the crowd. They saw the great miracle that Jesus performed, yet they rejected Jesus and asked Him to leave. People do the same thing today. Many who hear the message of the love of Jesus will turn Jesus away. They refuse to follow Him and make Him the Lord of their lives in spite of all that Jesus has done by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.
Finally, Jesus message to the healed man is a message for us today. Jesus told the man to go home and declare what God had done for Him. Let us declare what the Lord has done for us. He has saved us and given us an eternal salvation that can never be taken away. He has gone to prepare a place for us that where He is, we can be there as well. Jesus has given us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness.
May God bless you all this week. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment