WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?

Luke 8:39

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

June 24, 2007

There are some words that everyone has an opinion about what they mean, but the word still remains hard to define. One of those words is “integrity.” Now, if this were Cross of Christ, I would call on a couple of you to give me your idea of what integrity is all about, but I won’t do that here today.

What does come to mind with the word, integrity?

Some might answer that the word is equal in meaning to honesty. Others would probably take a more holistic approach, suggesting that it has something to do with being integrated—that what’s on the inside matches what’s on the outside, in other words, that who people meet is the same you that you know.

Culturally, we have many ways of talking about integrity. The Greeks advised, “Know thyself.” Shakespeare had Polonius advise Hamlet, “To thine own self be true.” Our DCE for Youth Ministry, Brent Howard encourages our students to “be where you are when you’re there.” You can probably come up with your own aphorism that encourages integrity—there are lots of them out there.

Maybe we have so many encouragements toward integrity because we realize we don’t do it well—or often. We have hidden agendas; we hide behind masks in public; we have secrets we don’t want known. I believe that there is only one Person who walked on this earth that ever really and always had integrity—Jesus.

Jesus is true to whom He is. His “inside” matches His “outside.” True God and True Man joined together in His Person to accomplish His mission. He didn’t hide why He came.

He came as God in our flesh to defeat sin and its hold on us. The Word of promise that a Redeemer would come was kept as He was born in Bethlehem. That Word of promise was kept as He stretched His arms out on the cross to receive the nails we deserve. His death in our place ransomed us from under sin’s curse and His resurrection from the tomb sealed death’s defeat. Jesus accomplished His mission—He is true to Himself and His mission. Jesus also came to break Satan’s rule on earth and establish the Kingdom of God.

Luke’s Gospel especially emphasized Jesus’ ministry on earth as His coming to throw back the reign of darkness and push forward the reign of God. The story of Jesus’ encounter with the demon-possessed man in Luke 8 is part of Luke’s telling this part of the story. Integrity has an interesting part to play in this story as well.

Jesus goes to the land of the Gerasenes. If you don’t have a Bible map memorized, this would be the area we know today as the Golan Heights—in Old Testament times it was part of the land given to the Twelve Tribes. This should be Jewish land—so why are there pig farmers? If you grew up in Iowa, you might be wondering what the big deal about pigs is, but God had some very specific guidelines for His people in the Old Testament and pigs were excluded. So, integrity is already a problem in the land of the Gerasenes.

Into this confused place comes Jesus. True to Himself, He defeats the demons. Now to our Modern sensibilities, this story about demon-possession is confusing. Just understand that Luke wants you to hear it as part of the larger story of Jesus’ establishing the Kingdom of God over against the limited power of the devil. That’s what Jesus does. He defeats the demons—He is true to His mission.

He does something else. As He defeats the devils, He gives us a foretaste of His redemptive mission—He overcomes Satan’s power and gives the man his life back. Jesus refocuses the man’s life—no longer do the demons define him, Jesus does. The man’s inside is remade and it shows on the outside—Luke tells us the townspeople find the man fully dressed and in his right mind. Jesus gives the man a new integrity. He also gives the man a gift.

What gift?

When you visit folks in the nursing home or talk with people who struggle with their health each day, they will ask you, “Why do you think I’m still here?” That’s a key question isn’t it? Whether you’re a teenager looking past high school and wondering what you will become or a college graduate suddenly facing the urgency of becoming, this question is on your mind. Confirmation students ask why at our baptisms, God doesn’t just send the chariot and take us to heaven. Even if you’re already established in a career, doesn’t this question come to mind on those big birthdays—when you’re 30, 40, 50, 55 or 60—“Why am I here?” “How do I move from simply being successful in the world to becoming significant in God’s Kingdom?” “How can I more available to God?” Everyone is looking for a purpose, for a reason they’re alive and Jesus gives this man a gift—He tells him why he’s still here: to tell the wonderful things God has done in his life.

Anyone meeting this man will know what the most important thing about him is—that God has done marvelous things in his life. We know that this bore fruit as later in His ministry, Jesus travels again to this area and the people have heard of Him. The man was given not only an integrity, holding together what was now inside and what he would show outside, he also has a new axis around which everything now revolves.

How about you?

Is your identity in Christ the most important thing in your life? Is this new self in Christ the defining axis around which everything else revolves? Do you have integrity between the person Christ has made it possible to be; the person you are inside and the person you show yourself to be on the outside?

I don’t know about you, because I don’t follow you around, but I do know about me. I confess that this integrity is not always mine. There are concerns and issues that would crowd into who I am inside and seek to become most important. My children are now all in high school, and wondering and trying to be helpful as they choose their career paths and make life choices looms very large for me.

When I think about our life together as a congregation and think about our stewardship and our budget concerns, I could also let those things loom large and crowd in to become the axis. Then, there are health concerns…I think you get the picture. I can identify with the man for the land of the Gerasenes—I could number my concerns “legion” as well. My guess is that your life isn’t much different.

We don’t do very well with this integrity thing, do we? This is one reason we take time each Sunday—each time we gather for worship—to confess our sins. We don’t do it because we like to wallow in guilt; we do it because we need God’s help in this battle. Remember how Luke wanted us to see the big picture—our lives lived against the background of Jesus’ establishing the reign of God over against the reign of darkness? Taking time to remind ourselves that there is still much in us that would give ourselves back over to that darkness; to remind ourselves that we are not strong enough by ourselves to align our inside selves with our outside selves—much less with the self that God desires—is what this confession time is all about.

We lay all of that at the altar and ask God to kill that part of ourselves. We ask Him to apply His Word that speaks judgment, that speaks Law and kill those things that would remove Him from the center of our lives—from being the axis around which everything revolves. We ask Him to breathe His Holy Spirit again into our hearts that we might live the life He’s given back to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. We ask Him basically to give us integrity.

Jesus has and He does give us integrity—again and again. Like the man He healed, He has healed you and me and given us our lives back to live—but to what end? Jesus has given us the same purpose—answered our questions of purpose—to tell the wonderful things God has done for you. In this gift, we can find the way to move from success to significance in the Kingdom. We can follow to have ourselves—our lives—more available to God.

How are we going to get there?

This might be the moment in the sermon that I pull out the three-ring binder with the new ministry program—after all, I’ve just returned from the seminary! However, I don’t have one to pull out. I don’t know what this significance and availability will look like. But I do know how we can get there. Remember what the Lord said through His prophet Zechariah about how things get done: “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord.

We don’t get there by trying real hard or by following some program of self-improvement—that hasn’t worked yet, why would it now? Our church body has gone on record, talking about missions, saying that God is in mission to redeem His Creation through His Son. Do you see the pronouns? They belong to God. He is at work—He is in mission.

God is in mission redeeming His Creation—that includes you and me. He’s accomplished that in Christ. Now, He’s in mission in your life—shaping you with His Word and by His Spirit. So, let’s take a couple of weeks this summer to reflect on His mission in our lives. We’ll spend the next couple of sermons on the topic—you can promise to spend the time in your private devotions and Bible reading and prayers—and let’s seek what His mission can look like in our lives individually and as a congregation—find our why we’re still here. Let’s find out together what it can look like for us to follow that man from the land of the Gerasenes, telling everyone of the wonderful things that God has done for us.