Allow Disruption for the Sake of Another’s Salvation

The big question is which kingdom are we building?

This past Sunday Nick preached through the story of Jesus healing the demon possessed man in Mark 5:1-20 and Matthew 8:28-34. Instead of just thinking through the narrative and the big implications of Jesus being Lord over the spiritual realm too, we dug a little more to see the implications of the story in how it applies to evangelism and Kingdom values. The big question is which kingdom are we building? The mission of a Christ follower is to build Jesus’ Kingdom through spreading the Gospel and the work of redemption and reconciliation which we are invited into as Christians (2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2), and not our own kingdom. 

Here is the big challenge from the Bottom Line of Sunday’s sermon: Do we want to see people set free in Jesus, or do we want our comfort and preferences because they are familiar? Are we actually concerned with the eternal souls of our friends and neighbors or are we only focused on our own comfort and plans? The world wants to think that the most important thing is your own wants and desires, that’s why there’s so much focus on self-love and philosophies like “you do you” that are always touted as being the highest of values. 

But these are lies the enemy uses to distract you from your calling and mission to build the Kingdom of God. He wants to pull you down away from being effective by getting you to focus on yourself and your selfish wants, but you don’t have to capitulate to the lies but instead fight them with God’s truth, “because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). 

Fighting such lies and turning your heart and mind toward a humble awareness of other people's needs looks like Philippians 2:1-11, in particular v3-4

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

That’s why the challenge is there from Sunday’s sermon, that if we selfishly are concerned with our own comfort we won’t be able to be effective in our evangelism and discipleship. Nick had pointed out that in the story of the demon possessed man that Jesus healed, the people in the region were afraid and asked Jesus to leave. This man from their community had been tormented for a long time and no one could help him or subdue him, so it was a miraculous thing that he was healed and in his right mind. But in the process the demons drove a herd of pigs off a cliff and it was shown that Jesus had the power to command spirits, so instead of being excited for the healing and the relief from this man's torment the community was upset that they lost pigs and this man’s power was shaking things up in their community. 

So with that example in mind, seeing that the community reacted negatively to the familiar being disrupted regardless of a good thing happening, will we be willing to allow our comfort or way of life to be disrupted so that others would come to salvation? It can be messy to pour into people and journey with them as we point them to Jesus and live out Kingdom values around them. You might feel your own personal kingdom is getting messed up when you are working for the growth of the Kingdom of Jesus. But that’s the challenge isn’t it? Which kingdom are you working for? Which kingdom have you been called to expand? 

'And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”' Matthew 28:18-20