Good Morning Friends,
The work of the Holy Spirit occurs repeatedly in one’s life and the life of the church dealing with evil. Some expressions of the church even deal with evil angels. The thing is that confronting evil is not a task for humans to face alone. Like faith in God, confronting evil effectively requires a supernatural intervention. We need help, not so much in understanding the problem, but to act effectively in resolving it. Mark Twain said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that cause me problems, it’s the parts of the Bible I do understand and don’t want to do that cause me problems.” This same situation faces the church. It begins in knowing that the church has some very dark demons that need to come out of its body much like the evil spirit in today’s text and perhaps in our very lives. It helps to be surrounded by faithful people of God. So, How Are We To Deal With Demons?
Scripture: He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue, there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!” And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.
Luke 4:31-37 (NRSV)
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.
Psalm 19:1-6 (NRSV)
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:10b-16 (NRSV)
Message: 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 some more easily believed in than in 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. 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. 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 it might be helpful in some cases 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. Certainly, we see it played out in politics. At the same time no single individual member of the oppressive systems seems to be possessed by evil. Though some might point to people like Hitler as an exception. 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, there is a peace knowing that Jesus can still drive the demons out of our life. Some maybe have been blinded so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 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. 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. 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. No, this is not exactly a psychological healing but a spiritual one. The beauty is that Jesus understood that people needed real answers for real problems. So, we are to put off our old self and be transformed by a renewing of our mind. But we cannot do this alone. Indeed, the church becomes irrelevant when it becomes purely a human creation. Thankfully true believers in Christ have the Spirit residing in their hearts and this same Spirit of God points out and reveals the sin and evil in whatever silhouette or shape in which it appears. Friends, we are all to be filled up with the Spirit but sometimes it is all right to be fed up too. 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.
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 of mind and body. 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.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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