Seeing People Transformed Pt. 2

Introduction

Last week we started looking at Luke 8:26-39 and we started to see 9 tools that you and I will need if we are going to live our life on mission as we are called by God to do. And we made it through to 5 of those tools. We learned that, if we are going to be on the mission of seeing people radically transformed in Christ then we need a willingness to go, a clear picture of reality, we need to understand the assignment, we need a full knowledge of the gospel, and we need tenacious hope.

Why are we exploring this? Because we want to be a church that is on mission. Can anyone tell me the mission of Covenant Life Church? The mission of Covenant Life Church is to see people radically transformed in Christ who leverage their lives for God’s glory. As a church, this is who we are. We aren’t the flashy church. We aren’t the hip progressive church. What we are is distinctly aware that we are Christ’s church. We are his bride, purchased with his blood and so we want to pursue a life on the mission of God for the glory of God. Amen?

Doing anything else is a waste of our time! We only get this one life to live and then comes eternity. There are no do overs. And none of us know when our lives will be required of us. That’s not a scare tactic, it’s just the truth.

Let me ask you a question. If you died tonight and stood before God to give account of what you did with your life—would you be satisfied? Are you ready to stand before God and give an account of the life that He gave you to steward?

I want to be ready! Do you? I want to be used by God! Do you? I want to see God do big things in our church, in Lakeside, in Richmond! Do you?

Towards this desire we are going to continue this morning in Luke 8:31-39. Let me catch us up on the story and then we’ll read the rest of our passage this morning as discover 4 more tools that we need as we are on mission in 2022.

Luke 8:31–39 ESV

And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

6. Ministry Expands (31-35)

Luke 8:31-35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.”

As we go about the business of Christ’ kingdom we have to fight the mentality that makes ministry a check list. Ministry is something I do and then I check it off. And once I’ve checked it off I’ll get on with the other parts of my life.

But this understanding of ministry is fundamentally flawed because it treats life like it is compartmentalized in a way that it isn’t. Compartmentalization is good for tasks, but life doesn’t stay in neat little buckets does it?

No, life spills out of the container and mixes all up.

Have you ever been hangry? You know that very serious medical condition where you turn into the hulk because you’re hungry. People you love become enemies. Situations get blown out of proportion. Everything annoys you.

Happened to Isaiah in 1 Kings 19.

But being hangry proves to us that we can compartmentalize tasks, but you can’t compartmentalize one part of life from the rest of your life. Eventually they will affect each other. If you are hungry and it’s been too long since you’ve eaten—you are likely to be unkind, and short tempered, and despair.

And if you are about the work of Christ’ kingdom and are looking to be used by God and are willing to go, and you have a clear picture of reality, and understand that you are calling people to turn from their old life and to a new life in Christ then you must prepare for the consequences.

Because like the rest of life ministry doesn’t stay in neat little buckets. You can send a check to Samaritan’s purse and forget about it. But when you start entering into brokeness and you start calling dead people to come to life in Jesus there are going to be consequences in your life.

The ripple effects of being on mission will move into all the other areas of your life.

When Jesus healed this man there were ripple effects. He was filled with demons and they had to go somewhere—Jesus chose to put them in the pigs. And this had consequences. These demon possessed pigs rushed down a cliff and drowned in the river—a whole herd.

Now why exactly Jesus allowed this we can only speculate. But we do know that the demons had to ask permission to enter the pigs.

This highlights an important truth. God is sovereign over all things even the forces of evil. Evil must bow to God. One day all evil will be judged before God. And God can even use evil for good. Evil and the forces of evil are subject to God’s authority.

We see that in this story. The demons had plagued this man for years. For years the towns people saw the power of the demons in this man—and when the pig farmers brought the town to see the man who cast out the demons into the pigs the whole town saw that Jesus of Nazareth had power over these things.

And what was the result? This result was that the people were afraid of him. They begged him and pressured him to leave.

Other times when Jesus and the disciples were ministering it led to large crowds.

We see different reactions to Christ’ ministry throughout the gospels, but the constant that we see is when Jesus did ministry there were consequences, ripple effects of his willingness to serve the Father.

And for you and I we have to be ready for ministry to expand in our lives. We cannot think of ministry as these little actions that we do so we can be obedient to God and then get back to the life we really want to live.

And the reason I mention this is because that is exactly what our flesh wants us to do. We love comfort, we love being the center of our lives. And this is the enemy of being on mission for Christ.

Are you ready for the goal of your life to be missional? This decision will have ripple effects throughout your whole life.

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ESV

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Are you ready to become all things to all people for the sake of living on the mission of the gospel?

Your honest answer may be, “No, I’m not ready for that.”

Do you know what we do—we think far ahead of where God is asking us to be faithful. In our fear we say “I can’t live like this because if I do God is going to have me go and do something I don’t want to do. He’ll have be go somewhere I don’t want to go. I’ll end up in Africa living in the bush.”

Don’t worry about the destination of where faithful footsteps will carry you—you just concern yourself with taking faithful steps.

One faithful step at a time untile you die or the Lord comes and I promise you that you will not regret the life that you lived on this earth.

One faithful step at a time and God can use you for incredible things to His glory.

Take those faithful steps of ministry and be ready for a life of ministry that expands into eternity. Throw out your check list of ministry and embrace a life of ministry.

Like the prophet Isaiah let us say, “Send me, LORD.” Amen?

If we are going to be on mission then we must be ready for a life of mission. And if we also must know who the hero of salvation is...

7. Know the Hero (36)

Luke 8:36 “And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.”

This one is short, but important. We must know at all times who the hero of the story is.

The gospel message isn’t the hero. The church isn’t the hero. We are not the hero of salvation.

Jesus is the hero. Jesus lived a perfect life for sinners. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus took the wrath of the Father for sin. He died and rose again. He is the master of death and the author of salvation. He is the great and coming King.

If we are to be on mission. If we are to see poeple radically transformed in Christ then we must not lose sight of who the hero of our mission is.

And this seems like a plain thing to say, but so many churches, so many ministries have fallen apart—so many men and women of God have fallen into great error and sin because they moved Christ out of the center. And they made something else the hero of the story.

They made social justice the hero, they made inclusivity the hero, they made the prevailing moral ethic of the day the hero.

And they lost the gospel in the process. Because the gospel isn’t about these things.

The gospel effects all of these things. The gospel changes everything. But it isn’t about these things.

If the church really wants social justice then we must be about seeing more people saved. If the church really wants inclusivity then we must see more people changed in the gospel. If the church is concerned about the moral ethics of our culture then the best thing we could do is spread the gospel of Jesus becaues it is only God who can change human hearts.

And we know that those who are saved in Christ become new creations. They are concerned about justice because God is concerned about justice. And their hearts are oriented toward actual justice determined by holy God—not the demanded justice of the loudest, of a woke mob.

Someone who has been brought from death to life abandons a moral ethic of death and embraces life in Christ.

If we want our world to change we must see people change and people only change through the gopsel.

And the gospel is about Jesus. He is the hero.

At Covenant Life we want to keep the main thing the main thing amen?

When we keep Jesus as the hero of our church we keep the focus of the church in the correct place.

Are you doing this in your own life? Is Jesus the hero of your life? Is Jesus the focus of your story? Or is Jesus an addendum to your story, a side note? Who is the story of your life structured around?

If you are going to live on mission then you must keep Jesus as the hero of the story or you’ll be on some other mission.

We talked about the need for tenacious hope but if you are going to be on mission in 2022 you’ll also need...

8. Tenacious Resiliance (37)

Luke 8:37 “Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.”

We must have tenacious hope that anyone can be saved and tenacious resiliance when people aren’t.

The reality is that all people will not be saved. God is not rescuing all people. He is rescuing some. All have sinned, all deserve judgement and God rescues some. This means that as we go about the work of the gospel and put our lives to the mission of Christ—that many will reject the gospel.

We can be willing to go, have a clear picture of reality, we can understand the assignment, have a full knowledge of the gospel, we can have tenacious hope, be ready for the waves of ministry, we can keep Christ as the hero and peope will still reject Jesus’ salvation.

And when you deeply care—this can be really hard.

When you know how good life in Christ is you almost want to reach out and shake people. “Don’t write this off! Don’t mock it! I’m telling you—this is the way to life! You are in danger and Christ is your salvation!”

But people will reject Christ as you offer Him.

And it takes tenacious resilance to keep going. Raise your hand if you like to be rejected. No one likes to be rejected.

And what can happen is you start to take that rejection personally or you start to believe that rejection means that you are not doing what you should be doing. Maybe rejection means that God is telling you something.

And He is. He did. But God is not telling you that this “mission business” this “kingdom minded life” isn’t for you. Jesus says

John 15:18–20 ESV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

As an ambassador for Christ who takes the message of life to the lost and dead world you will be rejected because you are offering God to the world. And outside of the regenerating work of God the world despises and rejects God and his salvation in Christ.

The disciples understood this. In Acts 5:41-42 they are locked up and beat for sharing the gospel of Christ in the temple and the text says...

Acts 5:41–42 ESV

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

Friends if you are being persecuted for living a life on mission for God rejoice because the world rejects Christ and you are accurately representing him to them. Otherwise they would not reject you. So have tenacious resiliance. Be resolute to be on mission. Don’t give up.

We must prepare for the consequences of mission, know the hero, have tenacious resiliance, and finally if we are going to be on mission we must have a...

9. Mindset of Multiplication (38-39)

Luke 8:38-39 “The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”

This man after experiencing Christ wanted to be with him.

And that is understandable. Who wouldn’t want to be with Jesus! Why wouldn’t you want to travel and be at the feet of the one who had healed you and saved you! His desire is understandable.

But Christ had a different plan for this man. He had a mindset of mulitiplication. This man was to make disciples of Jesus.

And notice that he was sent on this work immediately.

Tell the story about the kid getting saved in Baltimore and then immediately wanting to share the gospel with others.

We put up walls and barriers and training programs before we call people to be obedient to being on mission for Christ. Listen, we don’t take a new convert and make them a pastor. The word warns us against that. And we raise and train up elders becuase the task is important and it comes with qulifications.

But every follower of Jesus—as soon as they become one are called to share their faith with the lost people around them.

There isn’t a waiting period on becoming an ambassador for Christ.

When something changes us—the natural thing to do is tell others.

I started Keto and you’d think I started some diet based cult. I talk about it all the time with folks. Why? Because it has changed my life.

Shame on me if Keto comes out of my mouth more than Jesus!

When Paul was saved he immediately went to the temple and started teaching about Christ and how is the way of salvation for the world.

When this demon possessed man was saved he was immediately tasked by Jesus to go and tell people about what he had experienced.

And our text says he went all about the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

Do you have a mindset of multiplication? Are you trying to make new disicples in Jesus?

We do the same thing to ourselves that we do to others. I can’t make disciples until I figure this theological thing out. I can’t make disciples until I master this sin. I can’t make disciples—other people are better equipped.

If you are a follower of Jesus you can make disciples because a disciple follows Jesus. Making disciples is calling other people to follow Jesus too. Are you doing that now?

Don’t make excuses. Have a mindset of multiplication.

But what if they ask me something that I don’t know? What if I encounter a situation that I don’t know how to deal with? What if someone gets saved? Then what?

Friends, this is what the body of Christ is for. You won’t know the answer to every question. You won’t have all the wisdom you need. You probably will need guidance on what to do with a new follower of Jesus. And when this happens we rejoice that we are saved to a body of Christ with different spiritual gifts, life experiences, and wisdom.

Calling disciples is the work of every single follower of Jesus. Raising up disciples to maturity is the work of the church together.

Have a mindeset of multiplication trusting that Jesus will use you to call others and that Jesus will use his church to bring this people to maturity.

Conclusion

We want to be a church that is on mission. Amen? We want to see people radically transformed in Christ. And we can. As we seek to be on this mission lets be ready for a life of mission, know the hero, have tenacious resiliance, and have a mindset of multiplication.

Pray.

Discussion Question: What do you think is your biggest obstacle to making disciples of Jesus?