Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Copy goes here
Pastor: Pastor Nathan Berg
Sermon Date:  June 19, 2022

It’s the seventh petition of the Lord’s Prayer. We pray it nearly every week in worship. Perhaps you pray it daily in your own personal prayers: “Deliver us from evil.” But what does that mean? Luther explains it this way in the small catechism, “In conclusion, we pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would deliver us from every evil that threatens body and soul, property and reputation, and finally when our last hour comes, grant us a blessed end and graciously take us from this world of sorry to himself in heaven.”  We say it regularly, but do we really mean it? 

What do you think of when you think of evil? Is it just some vague, abstract concept? When you talk about it, do you talk about it in generalities? The world is evil. The evil out there? Is it something to be tolerated, something to make light of? Are we comfortable with evil so long as it’s not personal? What’s happening in Ukraine, that’s evil. But what’s happening in my life? Have we lost the truth that evil is real? It seems almost ridiculous to ask that question, but do we really believe that evil is real? Do we believe that like with Cain in Genesis 4, that, “sin is crouching at the door. It has a strong desire for you,”? 

I wonder if Satan, who by the way is also a very real, personal being with a personal agenda against you; I wonder if Satan hasn’t succeeded in part in getting us to believe that he’s not anything to worry about–that he’s not real. I wonder if we haven’t become too comfortable with evil.Do we really want God to Deliver Us from Evil? 

Whenever we hear a biblical narrative like the one we have here in Luke chapter 8, it’s natural to identify with one or more of the characters. I’m going to read it again and I want you to think about where you see yourself in this account. But first a little background information. We find Jesus and his disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. It had not been the disciples finest hour. The Sea of Galilee was prone to sudden and violent storms capable of capsizing a boat. And that’s exactly what they thought was going to happen. Forgetting themselves, forgetting what they had seen Jesus do, they panicked, “Master, master, we’re going to die!” Jesus calmly rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So matter of factly Luke writes, “Then it was calm.” And then Jesus turns to the disciples and his question must have stung more the water that had been whipping against their faces. “Where is your faith?” And how do they respond? Luke writes, “They were afraid and amazed and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” It wasn’t a good look. 

This is where we pick up. “They sailed down to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town met him. He was possessed by demons and for a long time had not worn any clothes. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. In fact, the unclean spirit had seized him many times. He was kept under guard, and although he was bound with chains and shackles, he would break the restraints and was driven by the demon into deserted places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” because many demons had gone into him. They were begging Jesus that he would not order them to go into the abyss. A herd of many pigs was feeding there on the mountain. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When those who were feeding the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside. People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. Those who saw it told them how the demon-possessed man was saved. The whole crowd of people from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear.”

So, where do you see yourself in the story? I think some would identify with the demon-possessed man. I think some would identify with the disciples who watched all of this take place. But I don’t think too many would initially place themselves with the people of the Gerasenes. And that’s understandable. This was mainly Gentile territory, where the Word of God was a rare commodity. As a disciple of Jesus yourself, it’s much easier to see yourself with the disciples than with an unbelieving crowd. But just think about this situation. Evil was clearly in their midst and they seemed to be ok with it. They weren’t seeking out Jesus, begging him to deliver them from evil. As long as it stayed on the outskirts, as long as it wasn’t staring them square in the face, they tolerated it. They went on with their lives. They likely had become so used to it that they didn’t even notice it anymore. No, it’s only when evil was confronted with the Kingdom of God, it’s only when the evil was dealt with and crushed by the Word of the Lord did they become afraid.

Can you see yourself in a similar situation? Have we become so used to living alongside evil that we no longer recognize it as evil? Have we become so familiar with evil that we don’t even notice it? Have we taken evil so lightly that we convince ourselves that if we keep it at arms length, as long as it stays on the outskirts, we don’t need to think about it? Has “Deliver us from evil,” become an empty petition? 

Evil is real. Maybe that sounds overly simplistic, but I think it needs to be said. Evil is real. It’s not just some vague, abstract concept. It’s real. It’s personal. It’s actively at work in our world, in our community, in our church. Satan is real. He is a personal being, a fallen angel who has a very personal agenda to separate us from God and the flock so he can destroy us. Evil was very real for this Gerasene man. Possessed by demons who caused him to live like a wild animal for a long time. Seized many times by this unclean spirit. And it was for this man that Jesus came to the other side of the lake. It was for this man that Jesus took the time, the personal commitment to deliver from evil. And notice how Jesus dealt with evil. He used his Word. He told the demon to get out. And the simple Word of God crushed those demons. They recognized his authority immediately. “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!…They were begging Jesus that he would not order them to go into the abyss.” If we ever needed a wake-up call to the horrors of hell, just remember that the demons themselves begged not to be sent there. The authors of evil themselves can’t even bear it. But when Jesus orders them out, they have to go. And into a herd of pigs they went and straight into the lake the pigs went, because the demons know nothing but destruction.  

Jesus’ powerful Word crushes evil and delivers this formerly possessed man so that when the crowd came out to see what had happened, “they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind…” And the people rejoiced? And the people celebrated? And the people begged Jesus to stay? “And the people were afraid…the whole crowd of people from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear.” Too often, we do the same. We are so gripped by evil without even realizing it, that we ask Jesus to leave, to not be part of our lives.

And here’s the real shocker, Jesus left. But he didn’t leave them alone. He left the gospel behind. “As Jesus got into the boat and started back, the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.”  Rather than letting the man who had been healed come with him, Jesus set him free saying, “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” The man owed Jesus nothing. He was not possessed by Jesus the way he had been possessed by the demons. Rather he was free to live in the home the demons had driven him from and to testify what God had done for him.

Friends, just like our Prayer of the Day says, we are poor people who face a real, evil foe. And too often we are comfortable with him near. But Jesus has come to deliver us from evil. Jesus is seeking and searching for us. He’s not put off by us and our sins. No Jesus goes to the dump to make treasure out of trash. And that’s what he’s done for each one of us. Jesus left the Gerasenes because he had to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, to endure the hell that caused the demons to shudder for your sins and mine. And Jesus did that. He suffered and died to take away all of our sins, to pay for all the times we’ve been apathetic about evil. And now he’s freed us to testify about what God has done for us. He’s given us the good news of the gospel. And this gospel that he’s left behind is just as powerful as the Word he spoke to drive out those demons. The man in the Gerasenes did what Jesus told him to do. “Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.” And the people were amazed, so much so that when Jesus came back to this region later in his ministry, great crowds brought their sick to Jesus. This time, these gentile people praised the God of Israel.  

Jesus’ words have power to crush evil, even in the mouths of the believer. And so we can send evil running. We can thwart Satan and his attempts to devour us by running back to Christ and where he is found. In his Word. We can tell what God has done for us! We can pray, “Deliver Us from Evil,” as Jesus taught us and know that God will do whatever we ask in his name. May we praise the God of Israel who has Delivered Us From Evil! Amen.