Sermon on the Pigs Mark 5:1-20 9-24-95

Sermon on the Pigs 9-24-95 Mark 5:1-20

This story has it all....
Good, evil, Jesus, people & pigs
Cast of Characters
the evil are the demons.....legions of them
Jesus is Jesus
The good is the demoniac....vexed, yet a valued human being
The people are people.....wag your heads....go figure
The pigs.....what can we say?

Pigs are valuable.....one cow, one calf. one pig, 12 piglets
you may not make a fortune, but you can feed your family.
Jesus comes, as he always does, to do a good thing.
Evil, no matter the size or shape, cannot stand up in his presence.
And regarding the good, those who see Him for what he is, well, people are just drawn to him
So were the disciples, so was the demoniac.
But not the people who owned the pigs.
They had their life. It wasn't perfect. but it was theirs..they were accustomed to it.
They were comfortable. They had a nut case in the cave, and they had their pigs.
Jesus came, and everything was fine, until he started to change their lives.
demons gone, pigs gone, Jesus please leave.
What is our relationship with Jesus like? glad to have him as long as he let
everything along? but don't be meddling with my life...don't be asking me to change

Dick Burnett....trying to replace your God with my God
very tough proposition.
What is the shape of your God....was Jesus white?
one person's God is filled with judgement and finding fault
another person's God is filled with love for all, with no standards required
yet another's God is filled with love & forgiveness for them, and judgement for all else
and the list goes on and on.
What is the shape of your God?

God is God.....he is who he is
If God is a circle....and you think he is a triangle,
He doesn't become a triangle just to accommodate your way of thinking.

Bring it home
Your demons do not matter....they can go.
Your pigs do not matter either....they can go.
But friends there is one pulling up in a boat that does matter....His name is Jesus Christ.

Don't ask him to go away because he makes you feel uncomfortable
Don't ask him to go away because he asks you to change

He is working for the good. Somehow, even without your demons and your pigs
your life will be better
So be brave....Let him in, let him stay. Let him do his work Amen