Transcript

Where The Winds And Demons Exceed Us

Matthew 8:18-34
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Pastor Randy Smith

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What does a Christian look like? Now that's a good question to ask ourselves! I cannot think of a greater question to ask. How would you respond if someone were to ask you that question? What does a Christian look like? Do we define a Christian's identity based upon what they say? Do they need to utilize a certain lingo or simply profess Jesus as their Savior? Possibly a Christian is identified by what they do. Maybe how they dress or how often they attend church or whether or not they were baptized. What does a Christian look like? That is definitely an important question. Eternal destinies hang in the balance. Where do we go for an answer?

It should not surprise us that Jesus has determined definite expectations for His followers. He is God. He purchased the church with His blood. Therefore He is the One who reserves the right to determine the obligations for His people. It is not "Burger King Discipleship" where you can "Have it Your Way!" He is Lord, and a subject of this magnitude is not open for debate.

So it really doesn't matter what someone might say or someone else might feel or another individual might believe. What matters are the words of Jesus Christ that clearly lay out what a Christian looks like. And those words of Jesus Christ, especially on a subject of this importance, are clearly laid out in the Word of God.

This morning as we prepare for the Lord's Supper and examine another rather large section of Scripture, we will explore three different accounts that identify a true Christian. We will see from Jesus' own words what He expects and demands from His followers. I have chosen one word to represent each of the accounts that will serve as our sermon outline: sacrifice, sureness and submission. In other words, every true Christian will sacrifice for Jesus, be sure of Jesus and submit to Jesus.

1. SACRIFICE

Let's first begin with "sacrifice."

In verse 18 we learn that Jesus, in seeking relief from the crowd, chose to depart to the other side of the Lake (or Sea) of Galilee. Yet just prior to His departure, He was approached by two individuals. According to verse 21, both of these individuals considered themselves to be His disciples. Obviously they were not among the twelve, but in some loose affiliation, they connected themselves with Jesus and considered themselves to be His followers.

The first one, according to verse 19 was a scribe. This was unique because the scribes, just like the Pharisees, were Jesus' chief opponents. Moreover, they were teachers. Why would they follow another teacher? They loved their traditions. Jesus trashed their traditions. Yet this scribe said, in verse 19, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."

It seems like a signature disciple for Jesus. It seems like a major bridge to the Jewish leadership. It seems like the scribe counted the cost and the ensuing persecution he would receive. It seems like sincere commitment - "I will follow You wherever You go," said the man. I mean, how many people, even in the church, are saying that today? There is no way we could imagine that Jesus would do anything to scare this guy away. No doubt Jesus wrapped His arms around this individual, praised His dedication and welcomed Him aboard.

Yet in verse 20 Jesus goes after the essence of the commitment He expects. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." In other words, "My friend, I'm looking for commitment, and I don't think you have the commitment it takes to be My disciple." Wow! Have we watered down the gospel today or what?

Jesus is not making the point that we need to sell our homes and live like a gypsies. This lifestyle was the specific nature of His ministry and calling. Jesus is simply stressing the universal need for sacrifice amongst His followers. He is saying that animals of the wild have homes, modest homes, but compared to Him they are much better than His life which consists of bunking up with others or sleeping under the stars.

If even the Son of Man, says Jesus, has nowhere to lay His head, what makes us think that He is calling us to a life of self-indulgence without ever making any personal sacrifice on His behalf? Jesus is not someone we tack on to our quest for personal pleasure and ease, but rather One who commands us to submit wholeheartedly to His lordship and suffer with Him where necessary. For how can we expect our Savior to live this kind of life of self-denial which ended on a cross of pain when His professing disciples are unwilling to be inconvenienced in any way for His cause?

Verse 21, "Another of the disciples said to Him, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.'"

That seems like a fair and reasonable request. The Jews took seriously the death of their parents. The proper burial and mourning for them was among the highest honor they could display for their parents. I do not believe the Lord would have any problem with this appeal as we are led to understand it.

However, the problem was that this request was a figure of speech which spoke of the son's responsibility to assist in the family business. In other words, the guy's father was not dead yet, so the son was committing his life to Jesus sometime in the future after the father passed away. And to add a little incentive, oftentimes an inheritance was only received if the son remained alongside the father throughout his life.

Obviously this individual was putting his parent and his money over his commitment to the Lord. This attitude was not acceptable in our Lord's economy. When Jesus calls us to follow Him, He expects us to follow Him immediately, regardless of the sacrifices. Remember, delayed obedience is still disobedience.

Look at our Lord's response in verse 22, "But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.'" In other words, "Let the world take care of the things of the world." Or we can say, "Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead."

To some, this teaching in verses 18-22 may seem harsh. But my friends, it is the teaching of Jesus Christ. Just because we have redefined the standards of discipleship does not mean that Jesus needs to comply. He calls the shots, and the shots He is calling are unqualified acceptance of all that He is and total allegiance to Him without reservation.

Though it is not explicitly stated, we get the feel from this passage that both of these men, like the Rich Young Ruler, walked away from Jesus. They left the spring of living water and spent the rest of their lives drinking out of muddy cisterns because the slime of this world appeared to them more satisfying than the demands of Jesus.

Jesus never sugar-coated the message. He did not make it less demanding. He cannot be accused of a "bait and switch." He stated His expectations up front. Total commitment. No strings attached. Sacrifice required.

And permit me to say as a footnote that I often struggle using the term "sacrifice." I believe that when it is all said and done, we will fully understand that what we considered sacrifices were really opportunities for our greatest gain. I believe when we get to heaven we will never say: I read my Bible too often or I attended too many Prayer Meetings or I shared the gospel with too many people or I loved others too much. You get the point.

2. SURENESS

If the call for sacrifice is seen in verses 18-22, verses 23-27 express the call for sureness. Jesus expects total confidence and trust in who He is. I chose the word "sureness" because I needed another "s" word. To make it simpler I could say this is a call for faith.

Well, the disciples with Jesus finally make it into the boat and begin their journey across the Lake of Galilee. Yet something sudden and unexpected caught them by surprise. Verse 24, "And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep." The Greek words used for "great storm" (megas seismos) indicate this particular storm was massive. Remember, most of these men were fishermen. Obviously they were used to some rough waters. However something about this storm brought out great fear. Yet as the winds were howling and the waves were breaking into the vessel and the boat was filling up with water, the text says that Jesus was sound asleep.

Verse 25, "And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing!'" The original language brings out this cry of anguish. It is only three terse words: "Lord" "save" "destroy." In other words, "We are about to die - do something!" Mark's parallel account, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing" (Mk. 4:38)? There is blurred tone between confusion and desperation. Certain death was looming. Obviously they did all they could. Their only hope was the Man sleeping in the back of the boat!

Yet when Jesus awoke He said, verse 26, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Literally, "Why are You guys a bunch of cowards; don't you trust Me?"

First consider this statement from the disciple's perspective: No doubt they were surprised by the rebuke. "Afraid? Our boat is full of water and we are about to die! We just witnessed all Your power in those recent healings, but when it comes to us, You act as if we don't even exist. We're facing a storm that we've never seen before and you ask us why we are afraid? In all due respect Jesus, what kind of question is that?"

From Jesus perspective: He is the One who created the nature (Col. 1:16). He is the One who upholds the world (Col 1:17). He oversees the affairs of His people. Why should they be afraid, especially when He is right there in the same boat?

The traditional interpretation of this verse is that the disciples should have trusted Jesus to protect them. Obviously that is true, but I believe that interpretation is a little too general.

Were the disciples rebuked because they cried out to Jesus? I don't think so. I believe Jesus is honored when we cry out to Him for help because it acknowledges a dismissal of self-sufficiency. God desires to bless His people and much of that is contingent upon us crying out to Him in prayer (Jn. 16:24; Jas. 4:2).

If I were in a situation like that in a storm, I would cry out to Him as well! To which someone replies, "Yes, but Jesus isn't in the boat with you!" To which I say, "Is Jesus with me any less right now than He was with them (Mt. 28:20 - "I am with you always, even to the end of the age")? And furthermore, these disciples had some faith. Let's remember, the One to whom they cried during this storm was not a lifeguard, but a carpenter! Did they think He'd suddenly build them a bigger boat? I don't think so! They obviously knew there was something special about Him. Maybe at this point they did not fully believe He was God in the flesh, but they certainly hoped He was!

I think the rebuke of Jesus was more along the lines of the disciples' failure to appreciate the mission of Jesus (faith not that Jesus would protect them, but faith that Jesus would protect Himself). Jesus had work to be done that would culminate at the cross. Would God the Father let His Messiah die in a storm when so much of the work still remained incomplete?

Either way you slice it, it is clear that Jesus expects faith. He expects us to trust Him and demonstrate that trust by joyful willingness to submit to His Word. Last week we learned that Jesus is compassionate and powerful. If we really have faith to believe He is indeed compassionate and powerful, what does it say when we doubt and worry and fear and complain? Are not these sins evidence that we do not really trust and accept His compassionate desire to help us and His powerful ability to pull it off? Are not these sins a demonstration of faithlessness that sees our plan better than God's? These sins say we are not sure Jesus is who He claims to be.

Verse 26, "Then [Jesus] got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm." It wasn't that the wind stopped and then eventually the sea became calm after sloshing around a bit. It was instantaneous tranquility.

Verse 27, "The men were amazed, and said, 'What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'"

Do you know what I see here? Almost as if Jesus were saying, "Do you believe who I am or not? And if you really believe Me you will have the faith to do what I say. The winds and the sea obey Me, is it asking too much for Me to expect that same obedience from My disciples? I have authority over nature, why can't I have authority over my followers? Where is your faith?"

3. SUBMISSION

Sacrifice, sureness and now submission. In this third point from verses 28-34 we will see that Jesus demands total submission.

At this point verse 28 tells us that Jesus and His disciples came to the other side of the Lake of Galilee and entered the predominantly Gentile territory called Gadarenes. It is inconceivable that you would find pigs in a Jewish region.

As they walked by, verse 28 says, "Two men who were demon-possessed met [Jesus] as [these men] were coming out of the tombs. It's bad enough that they guys were demon-possessed, even creepier that they lived in the tombs. They were also maniacs. The rest of the verse tells us, "They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way." Word on the street: "You can't pass by that graveyard without those two nuts attacking you!" Mark 5 says at least one of them was "constantly, night and day…screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones" (Mk. 5:5). They were the manifestation of demon-possession: violence, self-destruction, spiritual defilement and as we will soon see, anti-God.

Well, like normal these two nut-cases come running down the hill when they see some folks passing by and are shocked to see that one of them is Jesus. In verse 29, "They cried out, saying, 'What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?'"

This is an interesting verse. While people almost always misunderstood or overlooked Jesus, we see these demons (as they spoke through the men) clearly understand the One who stood before them. Obviously these spiritual beings were well acquainted with the Second Person of the Trinity. Also, it appears they were well aware that a time of judgment and punishment was awaiting them in the future (Mt. 25:41; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 20:10).

The issue was not the acknowledgment of Jesus' presence and authority. They certainly did that! In Mark's account it says they actually "bowed down before Him" (Mk. 5:6). The issue was the timetable in which Jesus arrived. In other words, "You are here too soon, Jesus! Our future is not pleasant, but we don't need it to go to abyss (Lk. 8:31) quicker than expected!"

Verses 30-31, "Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, 'If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.'" Luke tells us that one man said his name was "'Legion;' for many demons had entered him" (Lk. 8:30). And Mark adds that the herd of pigs was "about two-thousand" (Mk. 5:13). So in this account we have a lot of pigs and a lot of demons.

Verse 32, "And [Jesus] said to them, 'Go!' And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters." Obviously something supernatural took place. Pigs don't commit mass suicide. Pigs don't follow one another like sheep. And pigs definitely don't swim.

How did the people respond to this miracle? Verse 33, "The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs." And the people thanked Jesus for rescuing these two men, right? And all the people came back and worshiped Jesus, right? Think again. Verse 34, "And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region."

Many will say that Jesus was asked to go because He was blamed for destroying their livelihood. Perhaps. But I believe Jesus was asked to go because the people were overwhelmed with His presence. In Mark 5:15 we read, "They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the 'legion;' and they became frightened." Just like today, many do not feel very comfortable when you drop His name in public. This is seen even among Jesus' finest. Remember after the miraculous catch when Peter "fell down at Jesus' feet [and said] 'Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!'" Or even the story we studied this morning when Jesus stilled the storm. Mark says they were afraid before the miracle and "very much afraid" after the miracle when everything was calmed (Mk. 4:41)! All these people came to understand that they were standing in the presence of the living God and it terrified them!

The demons know Jesus. The Bible says they tremble in His presence (Jas. 2:18). As we saw this morning, they immediately obey every word at His command. The winds and the sea we saw also obey according to the desires of Christ. Should it be any different for people? Should it be any different for people who profess to be His disciples? When we consider who Jesus is, are sacrifice and sureness and submission too much for Him to ask?

Does today's passage help clarify what a Christian looks like? I have shown you what the Bible says (that's my job), now I will let you and God take it from there.