6-19-22 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Luke 8:26-39 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

Second Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, June 19, 2022 “Tell How Much God Has Done for You”

What makes a good storyteller? Some people are simply more engaging, more likeable, more compelling than others as they tell a story. Some people can keep an audience absolutely riveted by the power of their personality and their skill with words. But someone can be a good storyteller without the natural gifts if they have a good story to tell. Many good stories are true stories, but there are plenty of other stories that resonate because they express ideas and lessons that are true to the lives of the listeners.

In front of us today from the Gospel of Luke is a true story; it really happened. It is a story, though, that is very different from anything I have experienced, and I would assume that is the case for you, too. And yet I am suggesting that the lesson Jesus teaches the man in this story is a lesson he would like you to take to heart as well: Tell how much God has done for you.

Jesus and his disciples met this man on a trip to the region of the Gerasenes. That region is on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from where Jesus did most of his preaching and teaching. His hometown of Nazareth and the familiar town of Capernaum were both to the west of the sea, and the Gerasenes were somewhere on the eastern coast. In the verses right before our text, we hear about Jesus inviting his disciples to sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And we hear how as they tried to sail across, they were stopped by a powerful storm that only Jesus could stop.

When they had made it across the sea, Jesus was met by a man possessed by demons. He had been that way for a long time. He was naked and homeless. He found his dwelling among the tombs outside of the town. People tried at times to reign him in and to keep control with chains and shackles, but it never worked. The demonpossessed man broke whatever restraints they tried. He lived off by himself. He did until Jesus came.

The demons knew who Jesus was. They begged him not to torment them even as they were tormenting the man. They knew their time controlling and possessing this man was coming to a close. They begged Jesus to allow them one further act of destruction. And Jesus did allow it and a large herd of pigs all hurled themselves into the lake to drown. With nothing more than a conversation, the same man who had calmed a storm cast out a legion of demons. You can see the connection to our theme for worship today: Through the Word, the Lord Crushes Evil.

But this is not a story from our experience, is it? I have never witnessed demon possession as far as I know, and I suspect that is true for the vast majority of us gathered here, if not all of us. So what does this story have to do with us? What does this story have to do with our story?

First of all, the devil and demons are characters in our story. We don’t really get things right if we don’t acknowledge that. The devil’s tactics may have shifted, but his goals are the same. If it is easier today to cause the destruction of people by having them believe that the devil isn’t real, then that is a tactic he is content to employ. But we were born on his side, not on God’s side. Every choice that we make to abandon God and his Word is a choice to flirt with the demonic forces of evil. We convince ourselves that so many temptations are no big deal, after all, Jesus died for our sins, and the devil smiles and shoves the temptation in front of us again.

If you think you are powerful enough to fight this ancient foe, look at the man who lives naked in the tombs and rips through chains. When you know that you need someone else to fight the forces of evil for you, look to the one who calmed storms and cast out demons. Look to the one who faced the same temptations that you have but never once sinned. Look to the one who sacrificed himself to win the victory over the devil’s might and the temptations that he successfully deployed into so many lives. You have a powerful Savior who loves you. He warns you against the evil forces of Satan and his demons. He calls you to take hold of his Word as a shield and weapon against them. And he has proven his might against a legion of demons by sending them scrambling down into the sea in a herd of pigs.

But there is more to the story here in Luke’s Gospel, isn’t there? The pig herders went into town and reported what happened. The people came out, and they found Jesus. They found him with a man sitting at his feet. And it was the same man they had known before: the naked tomb-dweller who could never be chained. But now he was clothed. Now he was conversing. Now he was perfectly sane and normal. Now everything was fine again.

Except everything was not fine. The people of the town were gripped with fear. They asked Jesus—they begged Jesus—to leave them alone. They thought they would be better off with Jesus back on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They thought that they would be better off without Jesus. Apparently, thy though they would be better off with things the way they were before.

Your story is not exactly the same as the demon-possessed man, but it is similar. Jesus has rescued you from the power and the control of evil. He took you out of the sinful darkness into which you were born, and he made you his own child.

But now, is your story sometimes like that of the townspeople? They had lived with a demon-possessed man just outside of their town for years. Now in one day, he is sane and calm, but a herd of pigs has been destroyed.

They come out to see what had happened, and what they think should happen is that Jesus should leave. It’s a striking picture. They were fine with the real evil when it was just outside their town. They dealt with it at an arm’s length. They tried to capture him from time to time, always unsuccessfully. So then they just let it be. But when Jesus came, they were terrified. It was Jesus they wanted nothing to do with.

I don’t know if their primary motivation was that they wanted the pig farmers to earn a living, but I do know they got things backwards.

Is your story ever mixed up like that? We certainly can focus on the wrong things. We can suppose that making money, earning a living, is of primary importance. And we can allow that to take priority over devotions and Bible study, maybe even attending church. We can get really comfortable with temptations sitting just far enough away that we don’t feel threatened by them. I won’t look at the filthy websites for very long. I might hold a nasty grudge, but it’s not like I would really hurt someone. Why should I listen to my parents or my teachers? After all, I know a lot, and they just grew up in a different world than I did.

Your story is that you live in a society that calls evil good and calls good evil all the time. Your story is that Jesus called you out of the darkness of that world because he wants you to shine a light into it. In other words, your story should be different. But far too often you and I both try to say, “Jesus can’t you just leave at least for a little while? Can’t I just enjoy these things that I enjoy?”

Jesus has done great things for you, and he still does by allowing you to recognize evil. He has even greater things in store for his forgiven children. He wants you to experience them all for all eternity. That’s why he wants you to hold onto his powerful Word. That’s why he wants to feed you with his body and blood. That’s why he wants you to repent and to recall the powerful washing of baptism.

And he wants you to tell your story. The formerly demon-possessed man had an amazing story. He wanted to follow Jesus and learn more. He wanted what the disciples had and maybe at times took for granted. And Jesus said “No.” The townspeople wanted Jesus to go away, but Jesus wanted to leave his Word behind for them. So he told the man, “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.”

This man’s calling, his vocation, was not to be a disciple of Jesus like the twelve. It was not to be an apostle or a leader. It was to be a person in that town who had a story to tell. It was to tell his story. Tell how much God has done for you.

You have many vocations. Maybe you are a parent (Happy Father’s Day, dads), or a child, a neighbor, a coworker. Maybe you are a congregational leader. Maybe you want to consider becoming a full-time minister of the Gospel as a pastor or teacher or staff-minister. But here is what all of us can do: in our own situations and circumstances, with the people whom God has placed in our lives, we can tell our stories. We can tell how God forgives us. We can tell how God loves us. We can tell how Jesus died for our sins.

What makes a good storyteller? Most of all, it is a good story. You have that story. You have a circumstance in which to tell it. Tell how much God has done for you.

The Text: Luke 8:26–39 (EHV) 26They

sailed down to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across from Galilee. 27When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town met him. He was possessed by demons and for a long time had not worn any clothes. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. In fact, the unclean spirit had seized him many times. He was kept under guard, and although he was bound with chains and shackles, he would break the restraints and was driven by the demon into deserted places.

30Jesus

asked him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Legion,” because many demons had gone into him. 31They were begging Jesus that he would not order them to go into the abyss. 32A herd of many pigs was feeding there on the mountain. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

34When

those who were feeding the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside. 35People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. 36Those who saw it told them how the demon-possessed man was saved.

37The whole crowd of people from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear.

As Jesus got into the boat and started back, 38the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.