Choosing Familiar over Better

Introduction

From the years 2009 through 2013, a TV show ran on A&E called Hoarders.

Hoarding is psychological condition where you cannot throw away anything because you feel the need to save them. This can lead to an extreme condition where people’s lives are extremely effected.

It is not a bad thing to save some things, but some people, especially those represented on these shows, could not let go of the items in their home to their own peril.

It severely affected their way of life.

The TV show hoarders was about people coming in to help these people to remove items from their house and gain back a decent standard of living.

In MANY of the cases, these attempts failed because the people simply did not want to change or get rid of all of their junk.

Most knew and acknowledged that their lives would be better, but they could not get rid of those things that were ruining their lives.

They were comforted by the things that were actually causing the most pain and difficulty in their lives.

Hoarders cannot leave their immediate circumstances for what they know is better.

Hoarders ultimately choose what is familiar to them OVER what is best for them.

Today, we are going to see Jesus interact with three audiences.

One gets a new life.

One gets destroyed.

And one chooses what is familiar to them over what is best for them.

Read Luke 8:26-39.

Explanation

Where is Jesus? Gerasa was a gentile region around the Sea of Galilee. We know this is true, because there are pig farms - a ritually unclean animal for the Jews in the region.

Jesus has a conversation with three different audiences in the text: The man possessed by demons, the demons, and the town who had been plagued by the man with demons.

First - the man.

This man was naked, living among the tombs, ostracized from society, tormented in unimaginable ways by a demon, and bound by the townspeople.

He had lived an incredibly difficult life. We don’t know where the demon possession starts or ends, and we don’t know how bad or good his decisions look to this point. Whatever it is, He is a complete mess.

V28 - His assumption of Jesus was that Jesus was going to torment him.

We don’t really know where the man’s voice ends and the demons begin. We do know that the text says the man has come up to Jesus.

He believed that God was going to punish him. Such is a good portion of the world’s view of God. That God’s goal is to be punitive of man.

How does Jesus react to this man? Jesus moves towards Him with compassion.

For years, this man had been treated like a liability. Jesus saw his broken humanity.

I don’t know what kind of mess you have made of your life. Maybe, your life has been the summation of bad decisions on your part, the part of others, AND bad circumstances.

It could be the throws of addiction, and you don’t think that you can get out of it and God wants nothing to do with you.

It could be a horrible situation that you cannot see your way out of.

You may think that God wants nothing to do with you. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jesus, seeing the mess that was this man’s life, moves towards Him in compassion and love.

The state of your life doesn’t matter. Christ wanted to change it, and He can change it. But, is he able? This brings us to Jesus conversations with the demons.

Second - the demons.

They were named Legion. Jesus asked their name, and they gave it which showed that Jesus had authority over them. They begged Jesus not to send them to the abyss. Jesus cast them into pigs.

They had uncontested control of this man. He couldn’t control himself. The townspeople couldn’t control him.

Jesus cast these demons into a group of 2000 pigs. What is the significance of this act?

We talk about the spiritual realm, but we don’t really see the devastation or the horror of the principalities of our world.

This scene beats any horror film I have ever seen. It is one of the only tangible pictures we see of the complete wreckage that the spiritual realm wants to place upon mankind.

Two Greek words are used to define Christ’s power. Dunamis, or “power” AND Exousia, or “the right to do something.”

Dunamis is the word where dynamite derives. Explosive power.

Exousia meaning, “the right to do something,” means that Jesus doesn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do anything.

You must have both to have true authority. My son has the “dunamis” or ability to climb up the stairs, but he does not have the “exousia” or permission to climb up the stairs.

Praise God that Jesus has the final word on our lives!

R. C. Sproul Jesus has absolute authority over this man, the demons that plague him, and the townspeople.

He has permission to save Him.

He has the privilege.

He has the power and ability to do it.

He is given this authority by his divine rule.

He is never in a situation outside of his control.

No circumstance is beyond his influence.

He can determine what is right, decide fates, render judgments, wield certain rights.

Third - the townspeople.

The herdsmen of the pigs run back to town and tell everyone what has happened. These townspeople, afraid of Jesus, because of the wild event that has just happened, assembled around him.

The townspeople, seeing what he had done to the man, asked Him to leave.

Their fear is what I was talking about when I discussed hoarders. They were more inundated with the familiar to care about better. Surely, he wasn’t the only man possessed by a demon or sick or dying. Surely, they would have benefited from Jesus presence, much like the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

What does Jesus do? He leaves. He honors their request. But that isn’t all He does.

This man who Jesus has healed sits at his feet and asks to go with Jesus. Jesus asked the man he delivered to stay. Sometimes, God’s calling on your life isn’t for you to go… but to stay. Why? These people had abused this man, ostracized him, and bound him in chains.

Sometimes, God asks us to stay.

Jesus, full of grace and mercy, leaves this people, but He hasn’t given up on them.

A redeemed man in their village can still bring about faith.

Their initial rejection of Jesus doesn’t mean that Jesus had given up on them.

The same story is in Mark 5 which gives a few different details. One is very important. The last verse of Mark’s recounting:

Mark 5:20 “And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”

The Lord is still moving towards you. You may have rejected Him every day for 30 years, but the fact that you are within earshot of the Word of God means that it’s not too late.

Invitation

If your life is a mess, Jesus can clean it up.

If you feel defined by the life that you have lived, Jesus has the authority to change it.

If you have rejected Jesus in the past, it’s not too late.