The Authority of Christ

by Youth Pastor Kyle Mellander

I want to invite you this morning to take a journey. I’m 26 years old and I don’t have everything figured out. So instead of me sitting up here this morning teaching you what God has taught me, my hope is that you, sitting there in your seat, can accompany me on a journey. The journey might be difficult. In fact, I pray that this morning will be difficult to hear. What Jesus said was often difficult, and when things are difficult, they force you into movement – either toward Christ or away.

So if you were coming here this morning hoping not to think, I want you to mentally slap yourself in the head and wake up and get ready to think. I do not intend to close all the points in tidy – that will be your job. My goal this morning is to guide you to explore yourself – to explore Jesus – and to explore how Christ will interact with you.

But before we get too deep into that, I want to tell you a little bit about myself. Like I said, I’m 26 years old, I’m married to my lovely wife Emily, and we’ve got a future baseball player getting set to enter this world soon. We have an awesome dog named Faile and a feisty cat named Rand. I am huge sports fan – I love baseball the most. This is one of my favorite times of the year. This year, I am a little saddened because the Braves are not in the playoffs, but if you ask my wife, it’s a great thing, because I really get into the playoff games. But this year I am blessed because after years of watching the Bears play horribly, I am finally getting to see them get some respect.

I like to travel, but I am horrible at it. Some people can go to someplace new and just explore and never feel the need to know where they will be ending up next. But not me. I am a home-body. I LOVE being home. I love being able to kick up my feet and relax in my own house, to watch my own tv, to sleep in my own bed…I’ll stop there.

It seems so American to want to be comfortable. Even the adventurous types seem to still crave the stability that America is based around. That’s why 9-11 freaked us out so much – I think for so many people it was less of a fact that people died, because people die tragically everyday, but moreso it freaked us out because it means that we could end up being the victim of a tragic death. That our secure life would be challenged.

We create savings for ourselves, we own our houses that are somehow creating paper wealth for us as we live in them. Even the government follows what we want to be comfortable. We vote for the people that are most like us to be in government and we push for the laws that agree with our moral outlooks to be put into place.

We are in control! We are masters of our domain. We are able to kick back in our Laz-E-Boys and click on the TV of our lives while we trying to get through this life as comfortable as possible. Anything that threatens our control over our environment makes us nervous.

This is one of the reasons why Jesus’ life is so amazing. He went around his country – sometimes facing happy faces, but sometimes meeting glares – never settling into his own – never reaching that plush spot. And don’t get me wrong – Jesus totally could’ve done this. He could have picked a spot – been a rabbi at that place and let people come to him – meet them on his terms – do things when his schedule was free. But the cool thing about Jesus is that he didn’t do that. Jesus didn’t have to be comfortable. Jesus did not have to control the situation to be in authority over the situation.

Lets take a look at this story where Jesus walks into an uncomfortable situation.

Read. Mark 5 – Stand up.

Pray.

So right after the storm that Jesus calms, he crosses over into Eastern Israel. I want you to picture the situation that Jesus steps into as he steps off the boat. He steps down and he sees this crazy demon possessed man (show picture) – I’m guessing he might look something like that. And the text says that this crazy demon possessed man came to MEET Jesus. He came to meet Jesus. And I want you to imagine this man in detail. He lived in tombs – lived where they buried their dead, so I’m guessing he didn’t smell very good. His clothes were most likely extremely old, beaten and dirty and bloody. He looked like a mess. It said that he cut himself – so he probably had scars and blood all over him. And not only that, but he was probably a pretty intimidating guy. The townspeople had tried to chain him up, but he had ripped those chains apart. Whether this guy was average and just had the super strength because of the possession, I’m not sure, but I’m sure that if you had this guy walking up to you to meet you, you would go out of your way to avoid him. I’ve done it many times to people like that. In fact, the townspeople had chained him up for that very reason – to keep him as far away from them as possible.

The description of him doesn’t stop there – it says that he cried out in the night and cut himself with stones. So even though people had tried to keep him out of their hair, they still heard him cry out. Probably freaked their kids out. I’m sure it did great things for their home values.

So he came down to meet Jesus after ripping himself free from his chains and something amazing happens. I’m guessing he’s like a half mile from the docks where Jesus lands and he just starts to book it. The next events are not as clear as to the progression, but I’m guessing it might’ve gone something like this. He is running as hard as he can. Jesus sees this scary looking guy running at full speed towards him. I don’t know about you, but at this point I’m freaked out. Jesus calmly says to him as he gets within hearing distance “Come out of this man, you evil spirit.” The man then falls down on his knees and looks up at Jesus and yells – YELLS at the top of his lungs “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME, JESUS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD? SWEAR TO GOD THAT YOU WON’T TORMENT ME!”

As a side note, I just want to say – isn’t it interesting that this detestable, crazy, disgusting, demon possessed man can recognize that when Jesus comes around, he has to do whatever he says. Even when no one can control him, he recognizes Christ’s authority.

I want to say that I do not know exactly how demons work. The spiritual world seems somewhat of a mystery. I think that the devil is crafty and that in our American world he makes his evil work much more subtle. That being said, I wonder if it was almost like a split personality deal with this man. Because otherwise, why would Jesus do what he did next.

Jesus looked at the man – this horrible, terrifying, disgusting, unlovable, demon-possessed man and says “What is your name?” I would not care about names at this point – I’d be like just get out of here, I want nothing to do with you!

But at this point, the demons spoke up and named themselves as Legion and again begged for them to stay in the area. I don’t know why Jesus granted them their wish, but He did. Maybe it’s because He didn’t need to be free from affliction to be in the presence of God. Maybe He didn’t need to be free from the presence of evil to be able to do God’s work. Why do we think that we need to get as far away from evil when we have a God with us who has conquered death and sin and evil. Is it because we are searching for that comfort?

So Jesus sends out the demons and sends them into 2000 pigs, who go straight into the lake that Jesus just crossed and killed themselves like lemmings. I’m sure that it was a terrible sight. I’m sure there was a lot of shrieking pigs. I’m sure there were a lot of panicked and confused people. And I imagine that the man who had been demon possessed stayed their on his knees watching all this in wonder. Why did he deserve to be freed from his affliction. I imagine that Jesus again asked him his name and he told him. Jesus took him and helped him wash up, clean up his wounds, and get some clean clothes on.

Some time had passed and so the news had spread throughout the town. The men who owned the pigs went out into the town nearby and spread the news. To them, this was terrible news. Their business was destroyed. They lost everything. And everyone else had their lives at risk.

So they go up to Jesus and see the demon-possessed man sitting there like a normal human being – sitting there as a respected man. I can’t blame them for being a little upset. The first thing it says is that they were afraid. I wonder what crazy thoughts went through their mind. They were hysterical because they were so scared about how this was going to change their life for their families. As they stood their in disbelief, people told them the story of what happened, and they tell Jesus to leave. I assume that this was not a kid asking. I’m guessing they were pissed and were commanding Jesus to get out. Jesus HOW DARE YOU ENTER INTO MY LIFE IN THIS WAY!

How often do we cry out to God when things don’t go our way? It’s hard to understand the way God works sometimes, so I think we are all too guilty of asking Jesus to leave us alone. To get out of areas of our lives.

We lose a job and we question if God thinks that we are good enough. We lose a close family member and we get angry that God would take them away. Our children don’t live up to our expectations and we cry out to God why He could let this happen. We feel lonely and we close ourselves off from God. Our marriage starts to deteriorate and we blame God. When God shows us that He is in control of our lives – it can be very scary. It means our insecurities, our shortcomings, can be laid bare. I don’t want to say that it is wrong to emotionally respond to the hard things of this world. But I wonder why we get angry at God when they happen. I wonder what it was that caused the owners of the pigs to be so angry! Why are we so scared to let God take full control of our lives?

We distance ourselves from God because if we let him be in control, it could mean an uncomfortable place where things can seem so unsure. Crazy how Jesus never seemed to experience that. Jesus never seemed to wonder if God really loved Him or if the things He was going through were some kind of anger overcoming the love.

But Jesus exercises his authority again in not having to keep control. He hears the angry cries of these well respected men to leave and so he does. He sadly packs his things back up and starts to load himself and his disciples into the boat. And to think, this is all over some unclean animals that the men probably shouldn’t have been raising anyways.

Could it be that when we ask God to leave us alone that He does? Could it be that when we tell God that we want to be comfortable – that we don’t want things to change – that we want to stay in control – that He lets us? He’ll leave us alone on our Laz-E-boys.

But I think it is amazing the reaction of this demon-possessed man. The irony here is so amazing because they never actually give him a name in the passage, but he is so well respected by Jesus. He looks at Jesus and begs Him to let him come with. He wants more and more of Jesus. He invites Jesus, who has seen the darkest part of him, to come even deeper into his life – to capture it all.

But Jesus instead knows the bigger picture and sends him of to share throughout all his homeland what Jesus had done. Jesus used this broken, demon-possessed man to change many people’s lives.

So, I ask you, who was it that was a follower of God – the demon-possessed man or the owner of the pigs? This is challenging to me, because it is scary to be in that place where our sins and insecurities are laid bare before others and before God. How will He respond, how will WE respond? The comfortable do not often respond well to the broken.

May you be blessed to have God take control of your life. May you invite Him to take a look at those nasty parts of you. May you take the risk to give up your control so that God can be in authority over your life. May you feel secure and put together in His grip.

“The Story We Find Ourselves In”

Mark 4:35-41

Introduction: “The Perfect Storm”clip – what did you find your self experiencing or feeling as you viewed that particular scene?
We all weather storms in life and this morning we are going to give attention to these storms and God’s place in the midst of the storms of life.
It’s a big world and a connected world, a lot of forces coming together in just the right way both in our personal lives and globally to create the perfect storm.
Bailey Colorado news and other events that Kyle has already mentioned and prayed for this morning.

Transition: in fact if we think of our world in enough detail I would image that we will find ourselves responding with a variety of feelings ranging from anger, to stress, to fear, to anxiety, to sadness, even depression.

The story we find ourselves in

Our global story
Threat of nuclear war – we could literally destroy our entire world through nuclear arms.

Global warming is a real issue and the potential natural disasters that may arise out of it.

Terrorism and the atrocity that often comes from religious fundamentalism (in this case the Islamic fundamentalist).

Economic instability with medical advancements allowing for people to live longer though the quality of life may not improve.

Russia revitalizing its Soviet Union infra-structure

The fast pace of life and communication which seems to keep information constantly running free in our minds – your ability to change your stock portfolio in minutes.

China rising; producing more intercontinental ballistic missiles on land and sea than any country in the world.

Our money is dependent upon oil in the Middle East, the Yen and the Euro.

Companies walking away from retirement plans.

The bird flu or avian influenza – which if it were to get loose could literally wipe out half of the planet. (stats from flu’s of the past)

Transition: But the “story we find ourselves in” doesn’t end with our global experience we have our own personal stories as well. Like I said, It’s a big world and a connected world, a lot of forces coming together in just the right way both in our personal lives and globally to create the perfect storm – and we can not not have some reaction to this. In other words, the combination of personal experiences and our personal experience of world events will affect us.

Our personal story – and if we think about our own personal worlds in enough detail I would image that we will also find ourselves responding with similar feelings of anger, or stress, or fear, possibly anxiety, sadness or depression.
Life events
Relationships gone awry…
divorce
strained relations with parents
strained relations with children
work relations
social relations
difficulties, not enough friends, not able to fully be ourselves or to feel like we are really known.

Abuse you’ve experienced at some point in your life, be it: verbal, physical, spiritual, emotional or sexual.
This has left us with all kinds of reactions – angry, controlling, insecure, avoiding, feelings of inadequacy, trust issues

The dynamics of our families of origin:
growing up left to fend for yourself that managed to leave you wondering whether your very existence as a person matters
perhaps your parents were overly involved to the extent that you weren’t free to make your own decisions and were left wondering who you were and struggling with the ability to make decisions
perhaps you grew up in an environment where you had to perform to feel loved leaving you with an over all experience of life of never quite measuring up.
Or perhaps you hold to a belief that there is something wrong with you because you’re parents
Divorced
Abused substances
Or abused you
The list could go on…

The events that are out of your control:
miscarriages
loss of job
death of loved one

Decisions you’ve made:
Pull out of an investment that has hurt your financial future
Things you’ve said or done to your spouse or children
The consequences of substance abuse
Or the use of pornography
Or the decision to have an abortion
You name it…

This is the stuff that makes up our experience of the world – we’re all in need of healing!
This is the story we all find ourselves in and we all continually react:
We may hide from our pain (grandiosity wizard of oz, performance, etc.)
We may displace our pain onto something else/concretize our pain
Do you blame us?
Our responses of hiding, displacing, overwhelming feelings of sadness, depression, living a life driven by fear or soaked with anxiety are to be expected in light of our experience and are indication of the healing that desparately needs to occur.
We are hurt and in need of healing

Transition: In such a world with the global and personal experiences we have how else would we respond? In 1964 Bob Dylan sang “The times they are a changin,” and they have. We live in a different world. But are our responses really all that different than those who have gone before us?

The story the disciples found themselves in
Their global story
"How miraculous! We can now sail to Spain in just four days, Gaul in three days. We can reach Africa, on the gentlest breeze, overnight."

As the first century unfolded, ancient observers were awestruck by their shrinking world.

Reconstruction voiceover: "Incredibly, even Egypt is barely seven days' journey."

For the empire that Augustus left behind was now more than a collection of conquered lands. It was a far-flung society of vibrant commerce and frequent travel. By the year 14, the people of modern day France, Turkey, Syria, Greece, Spain and North Africa were all part of Rome. They contributed to its wealth, and gained from its protection.

Unrest in Rome, Augustus had built an empire but Tiberius would not have such luck. The Senate chamber was tense as Augustus' will was read. Tiberius moved warily to claim his legacy. And he gave confusing signals. Would Tiberius assume full imperial powers, the senators asked. "No," he responded. "Which branch of government will you direct?", one member called out. Tiberius was silent. "How long will Rome remain headless?" shouted another.

Many lived on the brink of ruin. In their towns and cities, in Egypt, Italy, and around the Mediterranean, they endured filthy streets, rampant disease, and recurrent famine. Emperors tried to alleviate suffering by offering free grain to some quarter of a million Romans. But even this wasn't enough. For many of the nameless poor, feeding their families was an impossible task, especially in the Roman province of Judea, modern-day Israel. There, on the empire's desert fringe, the dry soil supported meager harvests. Roman taxes added to the burden. The Jews of Judea were fervently religious. Among them was a family from a village near the Sea of Galilee.

Joseph was a Jewish carpenter. If the birth of his son caught Rome's attention at all, it was only as a statistic. But Jesus, growing to maturity in his father's trade, would leave a legacy more enduring than Augustus himself, a legacy made possible by the extraordinary ferment of the first century. For in this corner of the empire, at this moment in history, Judea was in turmoil. The population had split into hostile factions. Preachers and prophets roamed the countryside, drawing emotional crowds. At the age of 30, Jesus joined one such group and was baptized in the Jordan River. Soon, Jesus began a ministry of his own. And like other itinerant preachers of his day, he walked between villages, taking his message to the homes and synagogues of Judea's poor.

Their personal story
The setting and the story (Mark 4:35-41)
Marks obvious presence
At least 4 of them were fishers (Peter, Andrew, James and John) and had probably known the Sea of Galilee and its storms since their youth.
In Jewish tradition the one who ruled the winds and sea was God himself

Their response appears to be a very natural response
Do you blame them – how else are you to respond when life comes at you in a dangerous or threatening manner? When life feels out of control how do you respond? Their response is chastise-like but do we blame them. Is not the fear or anxiety we fear in such a time not a God-given mechanism that aids in our survival. The survival of a people who are precious in the eyes of the Creator. Does not anxiety and fear tell us that something is wrong, does it not motivate us to make a change so that we might be liberated both from the encounter and the emotion?

I mean, what kind of question is Jesus asking? If we are God designed to experience certain emotions – do you choose to feel something? The question is almost shaming, like what’s wrong with you for feeling this way in the midst of threat?

Perhaps Jesus was getting at something deeper, something beyond their fear of the storm. Was Jesus using the stirring of the waters to bring about a deeper healing in the life of the disciples?

Transition: How are we to respond to the story we find ourselves in? How were the disciples to respond? How did Jesus respond?

Meet Jesus in the storms of life and you will find healing. What do I mean by this?

Peace: Significance of Jesus sleeping (trust)
As Jesus sleeps peacefully in the perfect storm he teaches us something of the Father, of one of His names that some of us may be less than familiar with. In the perfect storm, Jesus teaches us of the “Perfect Sovereign.” Jesus is sleeping… when we live through times of anxiety or fear we often do not sleep well, but Jesus is sleeping and his external environment is falling apart which tells us something of his internal environment – which tells us something of his approach to life and his trust in his father.

The rule of God over life brings an internal resolve to the person of faith.

Ironically, they, the fishers are the ones fearful, and it is the carpenter who sleeps peacefully – his sleep in the midst of the storm a sign of his trust in God.

The disciples however, do not interpret his untroubled sleep as evidence of his trust in God. Jesus’ understanding of God as the “Perfect Sovereign” brought an internal resolve to the external events of his life.

They awaken Jesus with an indignant wail of complaint, as if he were in some way responsible for their plight.

Power: Jesus is the Lord of life (Who Jesus is)
Mark’s question is rhetorical, inviting the response of faith, “He is the Christ, the Son of God.”

The rule of God over life brings an internal resolve to the person of faith.

The God of Israel is the Lord of history and nature.

Jesus transforms a great sea into a great calm.

He is the personal, living God who intervenes in the experience of men, women and children.

He is the God who acts, not some pale abstraction.

When he chooses to reveal himself the forces of nature must submit to his will.

The rule of God over life brings an internal resolve to the person of faith.

The decision to execute Jesus would launch a religion that would one day subsume the Roman Empire, and resonate for millennia to come.

Significance for us: In fact the storms of life are often when healing occurs – I think the concept of water is very important here. Some of you may remember the story of the stirring of the waters at Bethseba. People were healing when the waters were stirred (John 5). We find healing in the storms of life.
Blind, bleeding, women caught in adultery

This may conjure up memories for some of you of Jesus’ experience in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is deeply grieved, dare we say experiencing a high degree of anxiety. And for good reason. Once again, a natural response to the waves of life – or in this case the wave of death. And yet, as Jesus prays “the rule of God brings an internal resolves to him.” But the wave of death did not go away, but the wave of God’s sovereignty swallowed death up.

In the cross there is healing.

In the storms of life move towards the Christ and discover a healing and peace that will transcend understanding.


Purpose: Concentric circle
Fear is inborn, faith is clearly not inborn and can ebb and flow depending upon circumstances, and is most likely to fizzle in situations of danger.

“The concentric circle” – the ideal

At different times in life we will find ourselves in the center of the circle.

Jesus’ call to his disciples, to us: in the midst of the storms of life you would find yourself at the feet of Jesus’ where you will find healing which will look like great faith, comfort, peace and calm all that originate from the “Perfect Sovereign.”


Conclusion – “It is well with my soul” (Worship team come forward)

In 1871, tragedy struck Chicago as fire ravaged the city. When it was all over, 300 people were dead and 100,000 were homeless. Horatio Gates Spafford was one of those who tried to help the people of the city get back on their feet. A lawyer who had invested much of his money into the downtown Chicago real estate, he'd lost a great deal to the fire. And his one son (he had four daughters) had died about the same time. Still, for two years Spafford--who was a friend of evangelist Dwight Moody--assisted the homeless, impoverished, and grief-stricken ruined by the fire.

After about two years of such work, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. They were to go to England to join Moody on one of his evangelistic crusades, then travel in Europe. Horatio Spafford was delayed by some business, but sent his family on ahead. He would catch up to them on the other side of the Atlantic.

Their ship, the Ville de Havre, never made it. Off Newfoundland, it collided with an English sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and sank within 20 minutes. Though Horatio's wife, Anna, was able to cling to a piece of floating wreckage (one of only 47 survivors among hundreds), their four daughters--Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie--were killed. Horatio received a horrible telegram from his wife, only two words long: "saved alone."

Spafford boarded the next available ship to be near his grieving wife, and the two finally met up with Dwight Moody. "It is well," Spafford told him quietly. "The will of God be done."

Though reports vary as to when he did so, Spafford was led during those days of surely overwhelming grief to pen the words to one of the most beautiful hymns we know.

{SING}

Who can say what it is about life that leads us to such a peace ... like a river. Who can say what ingredients it takes, for this person or that, that transforms such overwhelming sadness into personal peace, or brings healing, or ... leads our souls to a new depth, or compassion.

In the midst of the storms of life may you find rest and healing at the feet of Jesus.