Good Morning Friends,
Despite the booming stock market and a peaceable transition of power in the White House yesterday, people’s mental health has been plummeting. Interestingly, today January 21st historically is listed at the sadist day of the year. And maybe you are sad and maybe you are not. That the pandemic is slated to peak around this time and that many are frustrated in getting a vaccine makes matters worse this year. The let down from the holidays and the reduction of sunshine experienced this time of year may be part of the reason but for sure one of the causes is the isolation of people from the people who might care for them best. But then who wants to be around a person with a cough and runny nose and even more so if it is Covid-19. I would have to say that our mental health is more fragile than we would like to think. Today’s scripture is instructive on the topic of mental health during times of stress. Sometimes when we are anxious, and we just need to get away with close friends who can help us keep sane as we intercede for each other emotionally as well as spiritually. So, this morning we ponder the ways we prop up our spirit with a trip to the beach or to the mountains but moreover how we find rest in Jesus through the relationships with others. We consider that God might even use us to help carry out a divine purpose of helping others as a way of helping ourselves get healthy mentally as well as spiritually. The thing is that confronting what we believe is evil is not a task for humans to face alone. It requires supernatural intervention sometimes in the form of friends, but always including the help of Jesus to help us see differently. For we need help, not so much in understanding the problem, but to act effectively on a path resolving it. And here on the journey Jesus provides exactly what we need. So, this morning we ask a question about how what we believe effects our mental, spiritual, and physical health. So, Do We Know How To Resolve The Challenge Of Sin And Demons?
Scripture: Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent, was warned, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises.
Hebrews 7:25-8:6 (NRSV)
Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.
Mark 3:7-12 (NRSV)
Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever. For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt. Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.
Psalm 40:7-17 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s Gospel passage comes just before the appointment of the twelve Apostles. Jesus had healed the withered hand of a person on the Sabbath and was healing more people all the time. So, we see in today’s text the reality that Jesus had grown in strength and became a perceived threat to the religious leaders. The crowds were seeking him out for healing while at the same time the Herodians and Pharisees, blind to God in their presence, were seeking to destroy him. With each new cure the crowds increased. People were excited about Jesus because lives were being changed and joy was displacing bitterness and perfect love replacing fear and sympathy overcoming callous indifference. Even the demons were giving testimony to Jesus’ power. In today’s Gospel reading we see an example of Jesus’ power to heal the spiritual afflictions that possessed a human soul. And how we go about understanding this is important, for we live in a time with a fascination with the idea of the devil and demons. It is often part of the drama of the shows on Netflix with superheroes battling dark spiritual forces. Even children’s programs have this theme in their scripts. At the same time, we actively, in our enlightened state, position our thinking to deny the existence of demons. But talk to the people of Haiti and you might get a different perspective. The unspeakable horrors in our world would suggest something else is responsible beyond the evil ingenuity of people’s hearts and the use of drugs and alcohol and other mental illnesses. The senseless cruelty of some actions and their vile baseness would suggest that indeed demons are real and for a riotous mob, perhaps more easily believed in than in God. But according to today’s Gospel reading demons not only know Jesus but acknowledge him as God. It is difficult to explain that all of the misery and evil in the world are only the product of individual sinful choices. But, if we agree that there are demonic forces in the world, then there are a few things we need to glean from scripture about dealing with them. First it is important to realize that demons know Jesus and that Jesus has power over demons and curtails their behavior. The Bible teaches us that demons can accuse, tempt, stir up and aggravate all the other factors, making our emotional status tenuous. Scripture instructs us that demons lie to us much like our sins and enslave us in an emotional dungeon. So, know that Jesus came to set us free from this captivity. Therefor it can be helpful to consider demonic forces associated with the problem of sin as we seek to understand and explain the problems of the human condition given our belief in Jesus beyond the thinking that the devil made us do it. Here the challenges of depression, fear, anger, anxiety, or inner numbness may be so profound and difficult to deal with because of the multiplicity and inter relatedness of the many different roots and causes including the physiological, psychological, and moral problems in individuals, for some it might be helpful to consider the concept of demonic forces to help us to get our head around the issues. This is perhaps most helpful in us understanding the systemic social evil of our world. I think we would all agree that unjust social systems can reign in a culture and have enormously evil and devastating effects. But pointing fingers does not improve the outcome. Certainly, we see this played out in politics. At the same time no single individual member of oppressive systems seems to be possessed by evil. Though some might point to Hitler and others as exceptions. The point is that there are indications in scripture that demons can stand behind human institutions such as governments or nations and can produce evil effects through those systems and institutions. Suffice to say that something seems capable of magnifying, aggravating, and complicating the sin in our hearts that we commit toward God, one another, and against our own selves. Think of riots and collective behavior of groups in some situations. As Christians facing these situations or even discussing them, we must remind ourselves that Jesus can heal the darkest troubles in the deepest recesses of the human soul not only individually but corporately too. Jesus can handle the forces that enslave us, for Jesus has enslaved the Devil and can cast out demons. Our job is to be filled by the Holy Spirit so that the demons do not come back to live in us with all their demon friends.
And So, we are to put off our old self and be transformed by a renewing of our mind. But we cannot do this alone. A collective transformation is needed. The goal is not to destroy but to silence the demons and remove the offence. When we are filled up in the Spirit with joy and love there is no room for demons. Now, I do not know if you believe in demons or not, but I am pretty sure that we are healthier if we believe that they do not control us, and we need not be afraid of them. And Jesus offers this healing reality of love over fear. The message here is that Jesus is stronger than Satan and sin and can defeat demons by helping us to see differently. Still perhaps for his own mental health Jesus needed to get way from the crowds and those seeking to take him out. So, he headed from the lake and into the hills. But he did not go alone. Even Jesus had friends to comfort him. You see, there is a peace knowing that Jesus can still drive, what we consider, demons out of our life. Often Christians think of Satan as a figure of immense power and grandeur. We have picked this up from our culture’s literature and movies and not from the Scriptures. Satan is always under the power of Christ in the Bible. Lucifer is a bound devil. He is chained to Christ. And has no option but to obey Christ. Though he is not likely to be prompt in doing so. He is in a completely subordinate position. The Devil is absolutely inferior and has no ability to resist the authority of Christ. The Devil and all the demons are bound by the sovereignty of Christ who has defeated the beast from the pit, been tempted and prevailed. So, submission to and belief in God’s power is the goal but it is not always easy. Sometimes we feel that we must confront evil on our own and that is the problem. And it is naïve to think that evil cannot come into a church or invade our home to keep us from what God would have us to do. It is naïve to think that any of us are immune from evil. Like the story in today’s scripture, it is by God’s power we can experience freedom from our sins too. Maybe this is a psychological healing and maybe a spiritual one. I am not sure it really matters. The beauty is that Jesus understood that people needed real answers for real problems.
Pray our minds are not filled with negative thoughts and wrong belief’s that generate harmful feelings and actions. Pray the God of peace, sanctify us through and through. Pray we realize the need for grace and forgiveness…the need for help… but never forget the need to truly repent and be transformed. Pray our whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pray those called to service are worthy. Pray we are not discouraged. Pray we fully use the spiritual gifts we have been given beyond the degree individually humanly possible because we have supernatural help in the work of glorifying God. Pray we decide to daily turn our will and our lives over to the care of God and make fuller use of the Holy Spirit to free ourselves from our controlling sinful behaviors. Pray we understand that the power belongs to God but that the willingness and the decision to allow this power to sanctify our lives in ours. Pray we realize that fear is contagious, worry is contagious, and negativity is contagious. Pray we realize that faith is contagious, victory is contagious, and joy is contagious. Pray we are sealed in the growing power of the Holy Spirit. Pray for a supernatural resolution to the demons we face individually and collectively.
Pray when we pray that Jesus is praying for us. Pray we recognize the value of good friends to help us on the journey. Pray we realize that Jesus can overcome evil. Pray we be tools restoring relationships and honoring friendships that glorify God. Pray we offer real hope to those in need in a way the glorifies God. Pray our minds are renewed. Pray we count Jesus as our friend.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 