Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
11/1/98 am
What Jesus Means To Me
Reading — Luke 5.1-20
Jesus and His Apostles were crossing the Sea from Capernaum to Gadaria. There was a storm and Jesus calmed the storm with just three words “peace be still.”
As Mark chapter five opens, the boat lands in the area of the Gerasenes. Specifically, they land in a cemetery and a man comes running out from among the tombs to meet them. He was a crazy, wild, mad man. He was demon-possessed. Day and night he ran among the tombs cutting himself with stones. He was a real Halloween character. The officials had tried to tame him but to no avail. When they bound him, he was made strong by these demons and he would break his bonds.
When Jesus arrived, the demons recognized Him for who He was. They said, “What do you want with us... Son of the Most High God?” Recognizing who He was and what He was going to do, they begged Jesus not to leave them bodiless, hostless, they begged Him to give them permission to enter a herd of pigs on a nearby hillside pasture... So He did. When the demons entered the pigs, they ran down the hillside, and drowned in the Sea.
The next morning, the townspeople came to see the demon-possessed man and to check on their livestock. When they saw what had happened, they begin to ask Jesus, to plead with Jesus to leave their country. Think of it now... Jesus had come into their lives:
- Ready to minister to them,
- Ready to serve,
- Ready to heal,
- Ready to calm their storms of life,
- Ready to forgive their sins,
- Ready to save them,
- Ready to give them life above the ordinary, life above the common, life at its best.
But to these people Jesus was viewed:
- As a disturbance,
- As a problem,
- As an unwelcome intruder.
- They were not willing to deal with such life changing intrusions.
- They didn’t want to be disturbed.
“Leave us alone and leave our possessions alone.”
I am here this morning to tell you that Jesus will not, cannot:
- Come into your life,
- Minister to you,
- Calm your storms,
- Forgive your sins,
- Save you and things remain the same. You see, His way of life... His commands are: troublesome, disturbing, life changing! Genuine, New Testament conversion means we will be changed people... forever changed!
Well, the Gadarenes found Jesus most disturbing. So much so that they asked him to leave. Some of us are like that today... RIGHT? Some of us here this morning find Jesus:
- So disturbing,
-• So upsetting,
- So troublesome,
- So annoying,
- So demanding, that when sermons, the word of God, get too close to where we live, we just turn Him off, and in effect ask Him to leave.
Notice with me now some things that Jesus disturbs when He comes into our lives.
FIRST, HE DISTURBS OUR COMFORT.
Oh yes, today we live to be comfortable, don’t we? We want things just like we want them. Even in the church house we are spoiled by our comfortableness. We joke about it, but it’s true:
- Let the temperature vary a few degrees on Sunday morning and we complain.
- Let some visitor occupy our pew and we get upset.
- The sound system is too loud, or too soft.
- I had to park too far from the building.
- The song leader didn’t sing songs I like.
- I even hear people complain because the prayers are too long.
- The sermon was too long or too short
- The sermon was so disturbing... We want sermons that don’t prick our hearts and convict us.
We’re saying, keep me comfortable for sixty minutes and I’ll not come back next week. Some are not here this morning because they were unwilling to let Jesus disturb their lives. The sad part is that preachers and church leaders sometimes fall into this kind of mentality. You see, our comfort zones are set in stone and we don’t want them disturbed. This is why we don’t want to hear missionaries beg for funds. This is why we don’t want to see pictures of hungry kids with protruding tummies and vacant stares in their eyes. Why we don’t want to hear sermons about:
- Sin,
- Hell,
- Total commitment,
- Sacrificial giving,
- Evangelism,
- Doctrinal error,
- And apostasy in our churches.
THIS IS ALL TOO... TOO DISTURBING
Jesus, come into my life... forgive my sins.... give me the peace that surpasses human understanding... save my soul in heaven; but Jesus, please just don’t disturb my comfort.
SECONDLY, JESUS COMES DISTURBING OUR POSSESSIONS.
Keep your hands off:
- Our things,
- Our livestock,
- Our possessions,
- Our businesses,
- Our careers,
- Our investments.
Yes, we understand that the demon-possessed individual has been healed and is now a: different man, living a useful life, becoming a better father, a loving husband. He is now a soul-winner for Jesus in the cities of the Decapolis, a productive citizen in the community, BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR PIGS? Too far out you think? Oh church, how close we are to the Gadarenes
Perhaps we need to inventory our own stuff and determine really how much of it we are willing to lay at the feet of Jesus. Any one of us here this morning willing to be a Barnabas? Willing to sell a parcel of land and lay the funds at the feet of Jesus. Acts chapters two and four tell us that Jesus so disturbed the early church that this is exactly what they did. Are we really ready to restore New Testament Christianity? Or do we just like to talk about it?
Question!... Does Jesus disturb us enough that we will place:
- People,
- The lost,
- The church,
- And the needs of others, before our possessions? You see, here it is, if we are uncomfortable giving ten percent, we would sure be uncomfortable, if God asked us for the other ninety. “Jesus, come into my life... Help me, but don’t disturb my possessions!”
THIRDLY, HE WILL DISTURB OUR RELIGION.
But genuine Christianity is not religion in the first place is it? Christianity is an ongoing relationship with the living Christ, and a loving heavenly Father. Christianity is not just a religious system of abstract facts... One... Two... Three... Four. We cannot constrict Christianity into a sixty minute ritual on Sunday mornings. You see, Christianity is so penetrating that it works its way into every facet, every nuance of our life. God must speak to all of life or not to life at all. Jesus must touch and regulate all of life or none at all.
Genuine New Testament Christianity is not a car we restore to its original condition and place in the garage for others to look at. It is a vehicle we restore and drive daily:
- Drive it to work.
- Drive it to the golf course.
- To the bank,
- To the movie house and the video store,
- To school
- And most importantly drive it home.
- Around our neighborhood,
- And to church.
- Christianity is not a suit coat we put on once each week.
- It’s not a statue on our dashboard,
- A picture on our wall,
- Or a cross on a chain around our neck.
Christianity is a way of living. Christianity is a manifestation of Jesus living in us. Paul said, “Look, when you see me, it’s not me at all, but Jesus living in me.” I have people tell me, “I am comfortable with my religion.” Let me tell you something, if we are comfortable in our religion, then something is seriously wrong. Think about it... Jesus came to: Comfort the afflicted and afflict those comfortable in their religion. If we are going to follow Jesus, our religion is going to be disturbed.
THEN, FOURTHLY, JESUS DISTURBS OUR PRIORITIES.
Note verses nineteen and twenty of Mark chapter five. Jesus said go home to your family and tell them what the Lord has done for you... And the man was found in the Decapolis telling others.
- He was no longer living in a cemetery.
- He was no longer living a sin filled life.
- He was no longer controlled by Satan.
When Jesus comes into our lives, He gives it new direction and new priorities. “"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Thou shall have no other gods before Me. Love God with all your heart... Mind... Body... and soul.”
IN CONCLUSION WE NOTE THAT JESUS WAS ASKED TO LEAVE GADARIA AND HE DID... AND HE DID.
You see, Jesus does not stay where He is not wanted. Here is the saddest possible note... We have no Biblical record that Jesus ever came to Gadaria again... EVER! Not only did the Gadarenes lose their livestock, they lost their souls. We have those here this morning that have said, NO to Jesus so many times, I am wondering how long it will be until He leaves, never to return... NEVER TO RETURN!
Question!... Have you hung a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your heart? Don’t do that... One day Jesus may not come calling again.
Open your heart... come to Him in faith, repentance and New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of your sins.
As a child of God, have we hung a ‘do not disturb’ sign on:
- Our comfortableness,
- Our possessions,
- Our religion
- Our priorities?
The challenge of our lesson this morning, for each of us, is to remove it.
As we sing this invitation song... What does Jesus mean to you?
