April 22, 2007

Once again our nation is in mourning. Our hearts ache for the families and friends of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. And even though we are saddened by every life lost to such senseless violence, the number of lives lost here and the callous spirit of murderer shocks us. Once again we shake our heads and wonder, "how could this happen?" How could 33 gifted people be robbed of their lives? How could a bright young adult become so depressed and deranged that he would steal that life from them? And although we ask these questions out of our grief, through our tears we also wonder how we can stop this from happening again.

Now there are many talking heads on television and confident voices on the radio that claim to have some of the answers to our troubling questions. Some involve greater security measures, better warnings systems; others, more education. I was listening to this FBI expert who suggested that students take a course in how to deal with pressures at the university level and how to detect whether someone is in danger of caving into such pressures. Maybe some of these solutions have merit. But, as these people talked I couldn't help but think that their solution sounded a lot like band-aids and Tylenol-- ways of dealing with symptoms without getting at the root problem.

In all this confusion-- with all these questions and possible solutions swirling around in our minds, our Lord comes to us his people this morning with a startling announcement. "You have the answer. I've given it to you. What are you doing with it?"

And what is that answer. It's found in verses 17- 20 of our scripture,

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us

In order to begin to understand this message a little background is needed. Turn with me, if you would, Mark 5. I am going to read the verses 1- 17

¹They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.^{ 2}When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil^ spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. ⁴For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" ⁸For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"

⁹Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." ¹⁰And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

¹¹A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹²The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." ¹³He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

¹⁴Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man-and told about the pigs as well. ¹⁷Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

Now, I want to call to your attention to just a couple of things in this story. First of all, what is the reaction to Jesus? The demon possessed man, the pigs, and people living in that area have a similar reaction. What is it? They all want to get away from him. Now don't forget that Jesus is God, the Son. He is God who has taken on human flesh. John 1: 14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,^ who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We all know the story of how our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. They ate from the tree that God told them not to eat from. When they did this, they opened their hearts to Satan. No, by God's mercy they did not become demon possessed. That's an extreme form of Satanic influence. But, they did open the door to his influence over their lives,  and every part of their being became influenced to some degree by evil. Do you remember how that affected their relationship with God?

I have a question for the children here this morning. After Adam and Eve from the tree they heard God walking around in the garden in the cool of the day. Where did they go? [They hid from God] Why? [They were afraid of him]

Now Adam and Eve's disobedience affected all of us. Romans 5: 12 tells us, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

And so Adam and Eve not only opened the door their hearts to Satan's influence, but also the door to all their children's heart-- including yours and mine. And what has been the result? One important result is that human beings have been running from God ever since. Now, don't misunderstand. People do have sense of God. So,  according to Romans 1 many have made-up their own gods. But they have been running from the true God. Why? Our Lord Jesus put it this way.

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

God is light in him there is no darkness at all. None of us can stand to have the dark recesses our hearts probed by that light. And so we run in fear.

But back to the story of the demons and the pigs. When the demons entered the pigs, what was the result? The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

When Satan and his evil demons fill us, the result is always destruction. Maybe not right away. In Genesis 3: 15 God in mercy gives a promise to Adam and Eve that comes in the form of a curse to the serpent, who is really the devil. And God said to the serpent,

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring^ and hers,

Fear of God does not mean friendship with Satan. Even those running from God continue to fight the devil's influence. By his mercy God has given us that. Although demon possession is real and some human beings do give themselves over completely to evil, by God's mercy, this need not be the case.

But eventually running from God brings destruction. Eventually you can't run from God without running to Satan. Eventually you cannot keep running from God without destroying yourself. What happened at Virginia Tech was a reminder of what happens to a world that is running away from the Creator who gave it life. Every so once in while Satan catches up with us. And the results are always destructive.

No we're ready to look at our scripture again. Look at verse 18,

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

God's does not want us to run from him. That's why he sent his Son to atone for our sin on the cross to take away the reason we are running from him. As believers we have been reconciled to God. Last week we were reminded again that Jesus paid it all and we are completely forgiven. The sins that separate us from God-- that keep us running from him have been removed forever. And we can stop running.

And as those who have been reconciled to God, we can also know that for us the end is not destruction but life forever with God. Look at verse 20

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Peter tell us in stark terms about the destruction to come. In 2 Peter 3: 10 we read,

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.^

But as those who are reconciled to God we have a different future,

2 Peter 3: 13

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Now, we are ready for the second part of verse 18,

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

An idea repeated in v. 20,

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

God didn't just save us to and take us immediately to a new heaven and new earth. No, he put us- his new creation-in the middle of this old creation that is headed for destruction. Why? So that working in and through and with us he might renew more of the old creation. He put us here that we might stand as it were in the way of those running from him, to swim against the tide, in order to keep others from plunging down the cliff of destruction.

Verse 20 calls us ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is one who represents his country to another. As those who represent Christ as his ambassadors, we are called to proclaim the message that he redeemed us and to demonstrate what it means to be reconciled to God. We must show the world a better way. Paul in Ephesians 4 puts it this way

17. So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts...

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

This means we must radically live lives that are different from those in that world around us. We are a new creation. No, we don't do this perfectly, but everyday by the power of the Spirit we should strive to do this better and better. We strive because as have received his forgiveness, we are no longer running from God..

Paul originally wrote these words to a Corinthian church that was wracked with problems. Many in that church found one reason after another to lift themselves up and tear their brothers and sisters down. For example, some in the church who thought that they were better than others, because they had seen Christ while he was still on earth or because they followed someone who had. Others thought they were better because they had certain spiritual gifts. Paul here says

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view

Sometimes when think about the ways of life of those who running from God, we think about people who engage in immoral sexual behavior, or we think about people who engage in drug and alcohol abuse, or maybe we think about people like Seung-Hui Cho who commit terrible atrocities. But, maybe we also ought to think about those who engage in the kind self-centered bickering that was going on in the Corinthian church. And we ought to ask ourselves how many churches have been destroyed by such bickering?  Remember running from God always brings destruction.

And when we do things like that, we stop swimming against the tide and we join those who running away from God down the cliff of destruction.

People of God, you a new creation. You have died to such self-centered things.   Brothers and sister, the love of Christ should be controlling us. We shouldn't be fighting with each other. We should be fellowshipping one with each other. And not only in church, but in every aspect of lives we shoiuld be showing the world a better way. In what we do in our homes, at school, at work, on the highways, at ball games, everywhere God puts us, we should be showing the world that new creation that Jesus saved us to be.

There is a devotional book by Cornelius Plantinga, called Assurances of the Heart. In one the devotionals in this book, Plantinga tell about the history of Bedlam Hospital near London England. At one time this hospital, like many that were set up in that era was given the name Bethlehem Hospital. But over the years the name was slurred and mispronounced and it finally became Bedlam Hospital. Also, over the years, this hospital also became a place for mentally ill patients. Such people were a curiosity to society folks in England in the 1800's. And so for a time the hospital-- pressed for cash-- made money by charging admission for those who wanted to come and see the "lunatics" and "maniacs" as they were known. And so a place of healing became a place of cruel perverse entertainment. Plantinga concludes, "Sinners turn Bethlehem into Bedlam. Redeemed sinners try to turn it back."

Sinners and sin and death have turned our world into bedlam. Consider what has happened this past week. Now we might shake our heads and say, "What a crazy world we live in." Most would agree. Bedlam! And many wonder, "where is God in all this bedlam." Some have even abandoned the notion that he exists.

We believe that God not only lives but that he lives is in our hearts-- and that he is changing our lives. And we beieve he has made us a new creation.  Yet, in order for anyone to believe us,  they have to see God too and not just the bedlam around us. How evident is God in your life? Are you swimming against the tide?   Are you living like a new creation?  Let us pray for his grace to do that more and more this week.  AMEN!