Pastor Dan Eddy

Luke 8:26-39

“Stolen Identity”

10-8-10

I. Introduction….Identity theft.

There is no worse feeling then when you feel violated. And one of the most demeaning ways that happens is when someone steals your identity.

One of my good friends when I attended the seminary in St. Louis, Troy, had his identity stolen shorting before moving there from Indiana.

One day he got a phone call from a jewelry store clerk in Chicago questioning whether the man in the store was really him. Unfortunately for Troy the nightmare was just beginning. After making some phone calls, Troy realized he had a trail of bills, to the tune of $9000, credited to his name that he had never authorized. A man who has 15 years older than him, with a Texas driver’s license, who had much darker skin (an African immigrant) was passing himself off as Troy.

It took 70-100 hours of work, countless phone calls, and numerous hassles to get his identity back. All one needs to steal your identity in America is ironically a Social Security number. There is nothing secure when someone steals your identity.

In this morning Gospel text from Luke 8, Jesus encountered a man who obviously had his identity stolen, but he wasn’t the victim of credit card fraud or an on-line scam, no the very essence of this man’s body and soul had been possessed by demons, Satan’s angels. This was proven when in verse 30 Jesus asked the man his name and the response was “Legion.”

Now whether ancient times or modern…whether Middle-Eastern or American…parents don’t normally name their kids Legion, after a Roman military unit consisting of over 6000 soldiers. But this man was possessed with thousands of demons. His body was invaded and his identity had been stolen.

This morning we will see how Satan can steal our true identity in Christ and how we, like the man, can be receive our true identity back.

II. Possessed versus tempted by the Devil

Now some of you at this point may be a little skeptical when it comes to the idea of demon possession. It sounds a bit superstitious, like a myth or fable….a little out there. You may be thinking this guy was suffering from schizophrenia or multiple personalities, or just a total mental meltdown.

Certainly we have heard of people being put into straight jackets who have been totally out of control…who left to their own devises would tear off their clothes and run to live among the graves…like this man did.

And perhaps our modern perspective offers guidance to discern that people with mental illnesses are not in fact possessed by demons. But also in some instances the line between mental illness and demon possession has been blurred. Perhaps this is happening more often in this day and age than we want to admit.

In any event, God, Who knows all, knows our skepticism when it comes to believing that there are real evil forces out there in the form of demons that want to hurt humans.

So with this miracle, Jesus wanted to make it abundantly clear to the audience then and to us today that this man was possessed by a multitude of demons, and that only God truly has the power over them.

Conventional means to control the man were not working. This man was a social and security problem, spreading fear throughout this region. In fact in the Matthew version of this narrative there was a second man acting like this.

Stealing one’s identity affects more than the ones who have had their identity stolen.

Now we may not face demons in this fashion today. Using this text as an example, I doubt you are possessed by demons if Christ is in your heart. They shrieked as Jesus barely got off the boat. But today we are tempted by the Devil. He’s on the outside and wants to get it. He wants you to give up the identity Jesus gave you by faith at your baptism. He may not necessarily want to possess you as much as He wants you to give up Christ’s possession of you.

And just as identity thieves don’t loudly announce that they are going to steal your identity, so Satan and his minions can be very subtle in the way they want to steal your identity in Christ.

For example, it could take the form of moral superiority complex. In your mind you could think; “I follow 9 out of 10 Commandments so what’s the big deal if I do…a little gossiping, indulge in too much food, secretly watch a little porn, cheat a little on my taxes, get a little drunk very now and then, take a little more time away from church and family, devotion and prayer time in trying to earn a little extra money for my family. Or watch a little more TV, spend a little more time on FaceBook rather than care for and interact face to face with my friends, family, and neighbors.”

And before you know it, the 9 commandments you think you are keeping begins to drop to 8, 7, 6…because if we are honest the commandments are so intertwined that we violate many of them, often.

And the critical point where Satan temptations are possessing you is when you don’t care anymore if you’re committing certain sins; when your confession of sins’ time becomes thoughtless…routine…and your attendance at church drops, along with your prayer time and before you know it…you’re like the man in our text except without all the theatrics.

You see the ironic thing about this identity theft is that the Devil convinces you – you need to spend more time on you…not on improving your identity in Christ. Because the more you identify with your selfish desires, the less you identify with Jesus. The less you identify with Him, the less faith you have, the less you believe He is your Lord and Savior.

Now, did you notice, the demons had no problems identifying Jesus as “the Son of the Most High God.” This is something many of the Jews couldn’t say…but a demon possessed Gentile could. Now don’t get me wrong they weren’t confessing the name of Jesus. They had no faith…but factually there was no doubt they knew who Jesus is.

Why is it sometimes difficult for us to factually accept all that Jesus has done for us? Why is it hard for us to identify with Christ’s actions, believe His miracles, accept His suffering and death from the Cross, embrace His Resurrection as ours, and trust that He is the only God?

III. Christ Jesus’ power to change or restore our true identity

Just so you don’t think that this man was suffering from severe mental illness: Schizophrenia or being bi-polar or having multiple personalities…Jesus takes the demons, who feared Christ in the worse way, knew He could sent them to Hell (Abyss)…where they didn’t want to go, and instead draws them out of the man into some pigs.

Here is where there is more irony in the text, because pigs were considered ceremonially unclean animals in the Jewish world. By Scriptural Levitical laws it was illegal for Jewish people to even own pigs, let alone eat pork. You couldn’t even touch them without being considered unclean. So Jesus takes unclean spirits drives them into unclean animals, and 2000 pigs go over the cliff to their deaths in drowning waters below.

At your baptism…God in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit by His name spoken through His Word…drew the power of the Devil out of you….drowned your sins, and like the man in verse 36…you are cured. Actually the word used in the Greek is “So-zoe.” Please say that with me: “So-zoe.” It means “freed,” “let-go,” “escaped”, summed up in one word: “Salvation.”

With the faith given to you at your baptism and renewed each week in worship, you were freed to be with Jesus, your sins were let-go or forgiven, and you escaped everlasting death. That’s salvation.

Your miracle that day was even greater than the one in this text. The demons feared Jesus that day…but on the day of Calvary Satan (the head of all demons) had fear Jesus as well. Because on Good Friday…it was like Jesus took Satan and like a dog chained him to a pole in Hell. You don’t go near him and he can’t come near you.

But how many times have you heard of people who see this nice doggie on a chain and the owner says, “Don’t go near him…he’ll bite.” But the people don’t listen…. “Aww with that cute face he’d never hurt anymore,” and them the dog attacks and bites. When we don’t heed God’s warning. We don’t appreciate the miracle of the Cross.

Forgive us Lord, for identifying with the world under Satan’s control instead of identifying with you, who has saved us from the Devil.

IV. Response to the miracle: Living our true identity in Christ.

You see the miracle of this text happened at the end of all long day for Jesus. Where all day long He is trying to establish His true identity with whomever He came in contact. He established His identity through teaching and preaching on people putting their trust in Him. Then just a few hours before this text, Jesus calms the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee and saved the Disciples from drowning, and what is His Disciples’ response…not the gratitude of faith but fear. They couldn’t connect their identity to Jesus.

And that was also the townspeople’s reaction to Jesus’ miracle. Not “Thank you Jesus, the Most High God for healing this man who has been tormenting our families and communities.” No, it was “we would like you to leave. We fear you because your actions caused 2000 pigs to die. We think more of our money and local economy than we do Your mercy.”

Perhaps sometimes we identify with the losses we face in life, fear God and want Him to remove Himself from our lives as we fear more from our temporal losses than trust in and appreciate His everlasting mercy. We know of Christ’s everlasting miracle, as the townspeople saw Jesus’ miracle that day, but fail to put our trust in Him. Faith in Christ must be tested before we can truly trust Him to live that faith.

But did you notice the man who was saved wasn’t afraid of Jesus? He identified with Him in a big way. He saw the name of Jesus having much power, and He wanted to put his identity in Him by begging to continually following Him…a remarkable confession of faith in our Lord and Savior. He believed, was saved, and was ready to do whatever He could for Christ.

But Jesus had other plans for this man. Christ told him how to serve. He wanted him to take his new identity…His new name if you will…and remain in this hostile community, and keep telling everyone what He has done for him. And did the man complain because he didn’t get to do what he wanted to do? He had no fear. He went away and immediately starting proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

Oh it’s amazing that when we truly trust what Christ has done for us how much we are willing to continually follow and serve Jesus, when we truly see His identity as ours. When we express that identity to others with our words and deeds. Now life is not about what I want to do…but what He wants me to do for Him.

What is your reaction to this miracle AND to what Jesus has done for you? Do you identify with it for your own life? Have you allowed Satan to steal your identity in Christ? Are you like the man…excited to follow Jesus and willing to tell others about what He has done for you, and what He has and can do for others?

(Pull out Beacon) You have at least 8 ways to do that with our outreach ideas mentioned in this month’s Beacon, and I have one more option to add. Following the worship service next Sunday, Jon Rossman from the District will be joining us after worship to talk about opportunities for short term mission trips for our congregation. He will discuss both local weekend trips as well as larger excursions such as the Appalachia Service Project like the one Diane and Julian Herth were involved in this summer. Confos, Post-Confos, parents…everyone is asked to attend in this Bible study. Next Sunday following worship.

My prayer is that this morning’s message has purged the sins that are plaguing you from identifying with Christ, and like with the man you realize you have been so-zoed… “freed,” “let-go”, so that your true identity is in Christ with the excitement to serve Him. By the power of His name, let it be so. Amen.