:: EVERGREEN CHRISTIAN CHURCH ::

A Sermon Preached at Evergreen Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
June 24, 2007

CHRIST AND CULTURE

"A Culture of Possession"

Luke 8:26-39

Introduction

A.     Worship team, in listening to and responding to congregational questions, have asked me to preach this summer on Christ and Culture.
1. It shows a level of sensitivity, awareness, understanding and spiritual maturity on their part. They and you have recognized that the gospel has not only a content but a context. And the context in which we attempt to be Christian, to be disciples of Jesus Christ, is our culture.
a. The gospel is never generic, it is always particular.
b. It is never spoken in a vacuum, but in a time and place in history.
c. It is never other worldly; it is always a "this worldly" proclamation.
d. It is not about escape from the world but engagement with the world.

B.     Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "I am still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith…By" this worldliness" I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God taking seriously not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world…and that is how one becomes a man and a Christian."

C.     What are life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities in the midst of which we live in Evergreen, Colorado in the first decade of the third millennium of Christian faith?

D.     The proposal needs two definitions.
1. Christ: This refers first to the man Jesus to whom we refer in all things that mean Christian, and whom the church has confessed to be the personal revelation of God to our world, the one whom we call Lord and Savior.
2. Culture: The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of a community or population.

E.     The point is this: God has taken care of heaven for us. Therefore we are free and responsible for our engagement with the world.
1. How will we leave our mark on the world?
2. How has the world left its mark on us?
3. How have we been shaped by Christ? How have we been shaped by culture?

F.     Wordsworth: "The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and Spending we lay waste our powers."

When we look at the ministry of Jesus it is clear that he speaks and lives the "good news" of God into a CULTURE WHERE PEOPLE ARE POSSESSED. A CULTURE OF POSSESSION.

A. When I speak of a culture of possession I am not speaking about what we have but about "what has us!"
1. In the Bible it is called "demon" possession"…being possessed by demons as in our story in Luke's gospel this morning.
a. Jesus crosses into Gentile territory where the swine herders are…where the prodigal son ended up with the marks of the culture so much on him.
b. Here a naked man comes out of a grave yard, possessed by demons, and confronts Jesus.
c. Jesus: confronts the demon, calls it by name and for recognizes it for what it is, commands the demons to leave, observes the effect on the man who is freed, and deals with the reaction of the observers.
d. The man is in his right mind; the culture is afraid and asks Jesus to leave.
e. They ask Jesus to leave for two reasons: 1) they are afraid and 2) they have suffered an economic loss.
f. The gospel of Jesus Christ disturbs culture's assumptions and way of life.
g. You would think there would be rejoicing that the power of evil was cast out. However, here is a culture that had learned to control and isolate evil, thinking it is "out there" in the grave yard. The idea of tolerating evil as long as we can isolate and think we can control it and keep it "out there" allows us to keep attention of our own lives and what possesses us.

II.

It is also clear that when we try to speak and live the "good news" of the gospel, we live it and speak it into a culture of possession. A.     What is it in our world that "has us." What is it in your world that "has you." Possesses you. Keeps you from life and freedom and salvation? What has stripped you and left you naked among the tombs of life.

B.     I cannot name these demons for you.
a. As in our gospel story, Jesus asks the man his name. He has to name his own demon. "I am legion." What possessed him had become his name, his identity, his life.
b. You must say your name.

C.     That is why in our culture of addition, recovery begins with name and possession recognition.
a. My name is*********. I am an alcoholic.
b. My name is*********. I am a drug addict.
c. My name is*********. I am a sex addict.
d. My name is*********. I am co-dependent.

D. What is your name? And what possesses you.
a. Shopping
b. Fame
c. Fortune
d. Sports
e. Diet
f. Power, the greatest aphrodisiac (Kissinger)
g. Politics
h. Religion
i. Being Right.

III.

Jesus steps into our lives to free us. He disturbs our economy. He offers freedom. What is it that most controls the way we live? Whatever possessed me?

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