Sent to Join God in Mission

Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 8:26-39

There’s the story of Irish peasants in the depression era that were hired by a wealthy benefactor to build some roads. When they started the job the men worked well, they sang their Irish songs and put their total energies into the job. They were so glad to be back to work again. But little by little they discovered that the roads they were building were not leading anywhere. They simply ran out into the country-side and stopped. This philanthroper, meaning well, had given them a meaningless job in order to feed them and supply a living wage. As the truth began to dawn on them they stopped their singing, lost their enthusiasm and became listless.

There are many people in our culture who are busy, but who have also lost their enthusiasm. They just plod on day after day, with great effort, but have no joy, no song, because the roads of their lives aren’t leading anywhere.

At the same time, there are many congregations in the same situation. Continue on with great effort and great budgets, no direction, no joy, no song. They exist, they pay bills, they keep their doors open, but they have lost their identity as a community with a purpose, called, equipped, and sent to reveal God’s grace to the world.

This text from Luke 8 makes the connection between God’s purpose revealed in Christ and a community.

Jesus and the disciples have been traveling through towns and villages. They cross the sea of Galilee, where Jesus commands the wind and waves to be calm, and arrive in Gentile country. The first person he sees is a man possessed by thousands of demons. He runs through the graveyard naked, and the best the community can do is tie him up. But he always breaks the chains and runs wild again.

Wouldn’t you think that if a power greater than this demonic evil came amongst them, they’d throw a parade or something? At least say thank you. But no, they’d learned to deal with the evil amongst them – to live with it and even make some kind of peace with it. Chase the man down, chain him up, he escapes, they chase him down and chain him up again. When the power of God comes into a community for good, it disturbs a precariously balanced way of life.

Interesting that the community has come to accept his man’s condition. They live in fear of this man, but actually prefer the status quo of their peace with evil over the healing Jesus brings amongst them.

Is that our concern here? God is amongst us bringing the kingdom to us. There is movement and change within this congregation. We are beginning to grasp the reality of what it means to be a called community, equipped and sent out in mission. Things are not the same. God continues the work of moving the kingdom ahead, and the Spirit pulls us along. It can disturb a comfortable way of life for us individually – even congregationally.

But notice what happens at the end of this text. The people of the town ask Jesus to leave because they’re afraid. The healed man wants to go with him, but Jesus sent him back to the town, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”

This is a man who is now sent into his community with a purpose. Jesus doesn’t allow him to isolate himself on a perpetual spiritual retreat. No, Jesus sends the man into his own community to declare how much God has done. Who better to reveal what the kingdom of God is like than someone forgiven, healed, and set free?

LCM can identify with the frightened community. God has done amazing things amongst us. I hear story after story of God changing people’s lives amongst us – giving them hope, a new beginning, a sense of being cleansed and made new, the reality of forgiveness. God is active here. But we don’t always want to see it or talk about it because it disturbs the status quo. Will God disturb the peaceful existence I’ve carved out here?

So we’re afraid to move forward with the Holy Spirit, to follow Jesus, to reform, to be transformed. When we prefer the status quo, we are really asking Jesus to leave. Because he comes on the Father’s terms, not ours. He reveals God’s kingdom, not our contentment.

On the other hand, we are similar to the wild man too. Jesus has come amongst us, God has changed our lives, and we have been made whole. And we have been sent out into the community to declare all that God has done. We are a holy community created by God and sent into the culture around us. They may be frightened by what we bring. They may ask us to leave. They may try to chain us up and control us. But we are new people. We are changed by the presence of Christ. And we are sent into their midst to reveal what God in Jesus Christ is doing.

When we’re touched by Jesus, we are free from our own chains, including being possessed by our possessions. We are free from stockpiling money as if it could save us. When we’re set free, we’re sent to feed those who have too little to eat, give refuge to those with no place to stay, provide a mission center for the sake of the community, have materials to train us for this mission, get and maintain the best available staff and resources to prepare us for this mission – all takes the touch of Jesus amongst us, it takes prayer, commitment, hard work, and money. We’re asking you to take a larger role in being sent into the world, that we can declare what God has done.

Like the Gerasene demoniac, we’ve got a story to tell of how merciful and gracious God is. As we step forward next week with our financial estimate of giving cards, it’s one way we walk by faith, knowing we are sent by Jesus to declare to the community what God is doing.