In my Scripture reading time, I have been reading through the Gospels. I started with Matthew and read section by section until I finished it. While I was reading, I started keeping a journal again for the first time in years. I wrote my thoughts down on the passages that I read to glean more from God's Word and be challenged by it. Now I am reading through Mark and tonight I read the story of the demon possessed man that Jesus came across in the land of the Gerasenes. This man was possessed by many demons who called themselves Legion. If you have gone to church for a while, you are probably familiar with this story. The part that hit me tonight was not the casting out of the demons (which is pretty amazing and powerful), but rather the interaction of Jesus and the newly freed man. The man wanted to come with Jesus, but Jesus refused the man. This seems uncharacteristic of the Rabbi who went and called his disciples to follow him. But, if you pay attention, Jesus had a mission for this man. Jesus said to him in verse 19, "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Jesus gave him the mission of evangelizing that area for the kingdom of God.
This challenged me tonight because this is the mission is still giving us today. We are set free by the Son of God from sin and death and the power of Satan in order to be his witnesses in a world that is in desperate need of him. Jesus died for us so that we could live for him. This is something that I keep coming back to lately. I talk about it at church and I talk about it online. We are Christ's ambassadors on this earth. This man who was set free from these demons accepted the mission and went to proclaim what God had done for him. This is the power and evidence of a changed life. The way this challenged me is that I had to ask myself, "Am I showing the power and evidence of a changed life in Christ? Am I witnessing like I should or am I acting and speaking as though I am ashamed of the Gospel?"
One time I was at a church planting conference and I was listening to a church planter tell a story of an encounter with a businessman. He was trying to relay a point that in order to be an effective church planter you have to make a lot of contacts. In order to make contacts as a pastor (according to him), you had to do so in creative ways. So, he introduced himself to this businessman as an entrepreneur. At the time, I thought this was genius and creative. However, as I have grown older, I began to realize what this actually was. This was a bait and switch tactic. The pastor was baiting the man in by saying he was entrepreneur like him, but then switching eventually by revealing he was a pastor. It was not technically a lie, but it was little deceitful. I have thought about this story lately and wondered when did I find "creative" ways to say I was a pastor when I should have been very upfront about my calling in life because I was not ashamed of the mission my Father had given me.
So, let us not be ashamed of the Gospel. Let us know that Jesus is giving us a mission to evangelize a lost and fallen world. The man who was freed by Jesus accepted the mission wholeheartedly. Are you willing to accept it? Am I? Well, with nervousness and doubt in my own abilities, tonight I honestly said to Him, "Mission accepted, my King."
When I was in west Africa I was told of a man who had been held down by numerous believers while demons were cast out of him. In turn, the man was so grateful he spent the rest of his days preaching the good news to the other Muslims. At times he even became one of the believers holding down other men while demons were being cast out.
ReplyDeleteHe lived boldly despite the ramifications of his witness. I pray I should be so bold!