“Tell How Much God Has Done For You”
Luke 8:26-39
My goal every morning, along with some devotionals that I use, is to spend time in God’s Word. An older preacher whom I had a great deal of respect for told me once, “Son, don’t let your schedule rob of your devotion and reading time.” I’m currently studying the Book of Luke, one chapter every morning; and I’ve discovered again that unlike John Mark, Luke, the Gentile Physician, goes into great detail in his writing. [You might even say he was long-winded]
We’re not sure why Jesus, in our lesson this morning, has sailed to the other side of the Sea. The region of the Gerasenes was a Gentile region southeast of the Sea of Galilee. It was the location of the Decapolis, or the Ten Cities, a group of Geek cities that belonged to no country and were self-governing.
Obviously, Jesus wasn’t expected. There was no fanfare. The Chamber of Commerce wasn’t present. Just this demon possessed man. Not one of the area’s leading citizens.
The demons, like we see in other instances, knew who Jesus was. They recognized Him and His authority. They knew who Jesus was and what His great power could do.
The demons begged Jesus to spare them from the Abyss, which is also mentioned in Revelation 9:1 and 20:1-3 as the place of confinement for Satan and his messengers. The demons, of course, knew all about this place of confinement, and they didn’t want to go there.
Several years ago, I was out piddling in our yard, and noticed a turtle in my neighbor’s yard trying to find its way out. Not sure how it got there or why it was there, but it obviously wasn’t happy with its surroundings, and I thought about this man that Jesus encounters when He got out of the boat, a prisoner in his own body, kind of like the turtle, looking for a way out. When a turtle isn’t comfortable where they are they pull their head and feet inside their shell and hide there. Could you imagine a turtle that doesn’t even like itself just as the man in our story must have not liked himself?
We preacher types talk all the time about going out of our comfort zone. You’ve had other preachers who you’ve heard say it—you’ve heard me say it. With this little trip that Jesus has taken His disciples on He has removed them from their comfort zone. Look where they are—look at what surrounds them—a herd of pigs. No good Jewish boy would be anywhere near pigs! The disciples could be saying to themselves: “We aren’t in Kansas anymore!” [What I said to Miss Ruth this week at the hospital]. No, they were smack dab in the middle of Gentile country. Someplace they normally would have never been caught dead in. But when you hang with Jesus, He’ll have you doing things that don’t seem natural to you.
Jesus asks the man his name and he responds, “Legion.” A Roman legion was a regiment of 6,000 soldiers, so this man was possessed by many demons. Mental disease was often explained in ancient times as the consequences of demon possession. Modern psychology has now given names to ancient demons but in a sense, “Legion” is the name of every man. We all have a demon of some kind that we battle.
Demons can come in many shapes and forms. I read about a young lawyer who went to see his Pastor. He was down in the dumps, at his wit’s end. He said: “Everything’s gone wrong. I’ve lost confidence in my professional ability…my wife has left me. I can’t get along with my children. I’m cut off from my parents and my in-laws. I’m having conflicts with my co-workers. I’ve been drinking heavily. Everybody has left me…and I don’t blame them. I’ve been bitter and hostile. I’ve done so many mean and cruel things…and now I have so many problems (and then he literally said this)… ‘My troubles are Legion!’”
He paused and took a deep breath. Then, he leaned forward and said: “to tell you the truth, I think all those problems and troubles are symptoms. My real problem is that I don’t like myself…and that taints everything I touch and do.”
Well, he was probably right. When you are at war with yourself, it smudges and distorts every relationship. On the other hand, when we feel good about ourselves, we are more loving, more patient, more thoughtful, and more gracious…toward everyone we see.
Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I learned the hard way several years ago that if you can’t love yourself then you can’t love your neighbor—it’s just not possible.
One might imagine that this man they called Legion was at war with himself. He had all these demons fighting for control within him and he probably wasn’t too crazy about himself as those where he lived weren’t too crazy about him.
But once the demons are gone the people find him sitting at the feet of Jesus. To sit at His feet and to learn of Him is to recover our sanity, for He is the Word of God by whom all things were made and are held together.
In the late 1890’s, a famous tightrope walker strung a wire across Niagara Falls. As 10,000 people watched, he inched his way along the wire from one side of the falls to the other.
When he got to the other side, the crowd cheered wildly. Finally, the tightrope walker was able to quiet the crowd and shouted to them, “Do you believe in me?” The crowd shouted back, “We believe! We believe!”
Again, he quieted the crowd and shouted to them, “I’m going back across the tightrope but this time I’m going to carry someone on my back. Do you believe I can do that?” The crowd yelled back, “We believe! We believe!” He quieted the crowd once more and then asked, “Who will that person be?”
Ooops, the crowd suddenly became quiet. Not a single person was willing to apply the very truth that they professed to believe in—that the tightrope walker could cross the falls with a person on his back.
If you answered my invitation to join the “Summer of Encouragement” and the daily “Wake-Up Call,” or you are reading my posts on Facebook; you know that this week we’ve been studying the story and call of Gideon found in Judges 6.
Gideon still believed in God, but he no longer believed God. He had heard the stories about God, but he had not heard from God. Gideon didn’t have what it would take, as none of us do. He was about to learn that God did—and thankfully, He still does.
In our lesson this morning, when the people of the area found the man they had called “Legion” at the feet of his Savior they asked Jesus to leave them alone because they were overcome with fear. They knew what had happened, they saw it with their own eyes, but they weren’t willing to commit to this thing called “Faith.”
A man had been freed from the devil’s power, but the people in the town thought only about their livestock and economy. People have always tended to value financial gain above people in need. People are continually being sacrificed to the god of money.
Racehorses are confined in a 12 x 12 stall an average of about 158 hours per week, unless the weather is bad and that time might be increased. When our horses were at home on our farm we tried to keep them fresh by turning them out in individual paddocks. As you walked them to the paddock, they knew what was up and started to get excited; and then when you turned them loose, they would run and buck and kick up their heels. They would eventually calm down and just kind of hang out outside.
In our lesson this morning the man they called “Legion” is excited about his newfound freedom; he wants to go with Jesus and tell the world about what had happened to him. But Jesus wants him to tell the people that he knows about his freedom and now his faith. He wants him to tell how much God had done and how much He [God] had done for him. I wonder how many hear could tell some of what God has done for them.
When I returned to church as an adult after many years away, I couldn’t wait to tell my family! When I asked Jesus into my heart, I couldn’t wait to tell my family! My Mom said, “I thought you had already done that?” and I said, “I thought I had too but hadn’t.” And when I was called to the ministry, after the initial shock, I couldn’t wait to tell the people most important to me about this amazing thing going on in my life. [We all have a story to tell]
Folks, like the man they called “Legion,” your faith is something to shout about; it’s something to be proud of. Legion had a new life in him, and he wanted to show it off. Paul told the Galatians that before faith came; before Jesus came, they were prisoners of the law. Before Jesus came Legion was a prisoner in his own body. Our faith and our hope must always be fixed on Jesus, and it’s through our reading of the Scripture’s that we learn of our hope and build on our faith!
Oh yea, the turtle I spotted in my neighbor’s yard looking for an exit, well, with the help of my son Mr. Turtle was saved and set free in a pond near our house where he probably still is to this day, much like the man they called Legion, telling his turtle friends about the day he got saved!
Eastman First Methodist Church 