Scripture: Matthew 8:28-34
Today’s sermon consists of three “Don’ts”… Number One: Don’t Underestimate the Devil. Number Two: Don’t Have Devil-Like Faith. And Number Three: Don’t Treasure Anything More than Christ.
Today’s scripture is near and dear to my heart in part because of my own renewal of Christian faith, which happened around 2009. I might have told you before that when I graduated from seminary in 2007, I had a shaky grasp on the truthfulness and authority of scripture. Like many of my classmates and future pastors, I had doubts. The truth is, in retrospect, I was unprepared for the spiritual warfare that came my way when I was in seminary.
But good news… In the next couple of years I read a book by N.T. Wright called The Resurrection of the Son of God. Dr. Wright is both a New Testament scholar and an ancient historian, and in this massive tome he uses both historical evidence and scripture to make the case the Jesus was bodily resurrected.
I shouldn’t have needed to read this book to bolster my faith in the authority and truthfulness of scripture—I was already serving as a pastor, after all—but the Lord used it to help me… And I’ve never been the same…
But given my great respect for Dr. Wright, imagine how I felt back then while reading one of his commentaries on the topic of the devil and “spiritual warfare.” He said that in his experience, whenever he sat down to write on the subject of spiritual warfare—in one of his books or commentaries—he could count on things going wrong in his life: For instance, he would get pulled away from his work by some distracting emergency at home; or the computer on which he was typing would stop working; or a worker outside his office would accidentally cut a power line, and he’d lose power.
So Dr. Wright, this intellectual giant—who is not a crackpot—went on to boldly suggest that this is likely the work of—yes— demonic forces—who, according to scripture, can influence people and events in our physical world. That gave me pause.
And given my doubts about scripture back then, I was like, “Hold on! N.T. Wright believes in a literal devil?!”
As modern people, we have a lot working against us when it comes to believing in the reality of the devil…
Author C.S. Lewis saw this 80 years ago in his brilliant, depressingly funny book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes, “If any faint suspicion of [Satan’s existence] begins to arise in [a person’s mind], [the devil’s strategy is to merely] suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that… he therefore cannot believe in [Satan].”[1]
In other words, we can’t believe in that cartoon version of the devil, therefore we have trouble believing in the real thing, too.
But in my own experience, when you add the devil back into the equation, life begins to make more sense.
In my own experience, for instance, when I left my career, uprooted my family, and went to seminary in answer to God’s call into ministry, our budget was incredibly tight… and remained so for years… and years. It was hard to make ends meet. Yet Lisa and I began to notice the suspiciously large number of times we had major car trouble—and we owned Hondas, too, very reliable means of transportation! I would get so upset and so worried and second-guess answering God’s call into ministry, and Lisa would remind me, “Brent, this is the devil attacking.” She was far better than I was in spotting his handiwork.
And I’m like, “Oh, yeah! There’s something else going on here! There’s a deeper reason why life is so incredibly hard.” There are intelligent evil forces working against us in this world.
So… recovering my confidence in Scripture also meant recovering Scripture’s view of reality… a reality that included the realm of angels and demons.
And that’s the same reality that Jesus and the disciples are facing in today’s scripture. Matthew concludes what I’ve called a “Miracle Season” with Jesus’ most dramatic miracle yet. Last week we saw that when Jesus calmed the winds and the waves on the Sea of Galilee, he had complete power and authority over the natural world. Here, in today’s scripture, we see that he has complete power and authority over the supernatural world!
But let’s be clear: the devil doesn’t usually work in dramatic, scary ways—you know, as with Linda Blair’s head spinning around in the movie The Exorcist… Or like in today’s scripture.
In fact, the New Testament describes much less conspicuous, much more subtle and invisible ways that the devil works. Therefore the Bible says we Christians need to be on guard against his devilish work. Remember Paul’s sobering words about spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6?
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.[2]
When you think about it, it’s really strange for Paul to say that we “do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” After all, his entire apostolic ministry seems to be a series of wrestling matches with flesh and blood opponents. If you have your Bibles—and you should—please turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11, beginning with verse 23. Paul said that he experienced
far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
These were all things that flesh-and-blood human beings did to Paul. He goes on to say that he was in “danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city… danger from false brothers.”[3]
You get the point, I hope: It seemed as if Paul were “wrestling against flesh and blood” human beings all the time—outside and even inside the church—yet somehow he still says, in spite of this, that we Christians do not wrestle against flesh and blood. What does that mean?
It means that we have a more ultimate Enemy behind all human enemies… the devil, and he has an army of fellow demons at his disposal, all of whom—like Satan, their chief—were created by God as angels in the heavenly realms—to love, serve, and glorify God. Yet these angels chose to rebel against God—as Adam and Eve and the rest of mankind would later do; they chose to sin. And now, the Bible warns repeatedly, they oppose us. They are the ones against whom we ultimately wrestle…
Even when it seems as if we’re wrestling against mere flesh-and-blood people.
Paul warns elsewhere that both anger and pride give the devil a foothold in our lives…
Or how about Paul’s words to fellow pastor Timothy:
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.[4]
Keep in mind: What Paul is describing happens in churches… These opponents of Timothy are none other than church members—genuine Christian believers—who must escape from the “snare of the devil,” who have been “captured by [the devil] to do his will.”
This is something far less than demonic possession… and this happens all the time, even to Christians!
My point is, let’s not get hung up on sensational displays of demonic activity in the world—which we may never witness firsthand—while completely missing the small, innumerable, ordinary ways the devil usually causes harm!
That’s Point Number One… Don’t underestimate the devil…
Number Two… Don’t have “devil-like faith”…
What do I mean by “devil-like faith”? Look at verse 29:
And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
Keep in mind, these are demons speaking through these two men. As in other places in the gospels, demons are the first ones to understand and appreciate Jesus’ true identity. They know exactly who Jesus is. In fact, when they ask, “Have you come here to torment us before the time?” the “time” they refer to is Final Judgment… In other words, they already know that their goose is cooked. They already know about what Jesus will later refer to in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25—that their ultimate destination is an “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”[5]
So Satan and his fellow demons already know that Jesus is the Son of God; that he is their future judge; that there is a Final Judgment; and that they will not ultimately be able to resist him. In fact, they could affirm from firsthand experience every word of the Nicene Creed or Apostles’ Creed. They would ace a Methodist ordination exam or interview.
As James, in chapter 2 of his letter, says, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.”[6]
My point is, if faith is something that only lives up here, in our heads, and doesn’t penetrate to our hearts, and bear fruit, and work itself out through concrete, Christlike actions… that kind of faith, James says, has something uncomfortably in common with the faith of demons.
And all of us, at times, fall victim to the same temptation…
Even heroes of the Bible…
Let’s look at one great example… In Ezra chapter 8, Ezra is leading a second wave of Jewish exiles from Babylon back to Jerusalem—nearly eighty years after the first group returned to rebuild the temple. They are traveling hundreds of miles on foot with their families and carrying large amounts of gold and silver that had been donated for the worship of God. It would have made perfect sense to ask the Persian king for soldiers and cavalry to protect them from bandits along the way.
And that’s what Ezra is tempted to do… But here’s the problem: In Ezra 8:22, he says he’s too ashamed to ask the king for a military escort, because he remembers what he had already told the king: “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.” Uh-oh… In his head he knows this to be true, but he thinks… “Do I actually believe that enough to trust him now?”
Nevertheless, he rejects “devil faith”… Instead of requesting a military escort, he calls the people to fast and pray… to entrust themselves to God. And God, of course, brought them safely all the way to Jerusalem.
Unfortunately for me—unlike Ezra—I often don’t feel ashamed enough when I fail to live out what I say I believe!
I was struck by this truth in a quiet time last week when I read these words from a favorite psalm, Psalm 121:7-8:
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
The Lord is what the Bible calls our keeper. He keeps watch over us so that we will be okay.
But I was thinking about what this meant… And believe it or not, I thought about my beloved springer spaniel, Ringo. I am his keeper… along with Lisa. And I take that job very seriously. In fact, I often feel anxious when circumstances prevent me from keeping him… for instance, when we go on vacation and have to leave him with a dog sitter… or when we drop him off at the groomer’s… or, one time, when we had to leave him with a vet over the weekend… I feel anxious any time we have to delegate this “keeping” role of ours to someone else. I don’t like it…
In fact, one time, years ago, someone gave us a Furbo—that doggy cam that lets you watch your dog, talk to your dog, and throw him treats. Big mistake. Because we went on vacation and left him with a college student from our church. But she was unable to stay at our house. She would just drop by a few times a day and feed Ringo, let him out, play with him, walk him… Allegedly.
I could hardly enjoy the vacation because it would be, like, 10:00 a.m., and she still hadn’t come by to let Ringo out. Ugh! “She’s so irresponsible!” Of course I would have been none the wiser without that stupid doggy cam!
Don’t worry. We don’t have it anymore.
But my point is, I must think that I’m more responsible when it comes to keeping Ringo than our heavenly Father when it comes to keeping me.
This is completely irrational.
Because unlike me with Ringo, there is never a single small fraction of a second in which our Father is not “keeping” me. He never has to delegate the responsibility to anyone, much less an irresponsible college student! And even when I was anxiously watching for the irresponsible college student to show up, I never seriously thought she was going to let Ringo die of malnutrition or thirst.
Therefore if I really believed what Psalm 121 says, how could I ever possibly be afraid… knowing that the Lord is mykeeper?
Yet I still am…
Apparently, I believe Psalm 121 enough to preach it, but not always enough to rest in it.
Which means that, at least in those moments, I have nothing other than devil-like faith. I know what’s true. I can recite what’s true. I can preach what’s true. But I have a devil of a time trusting what’s true!
Maybe you’re not so different…
But here’s the surprising part about this story…
By the end of the story, the demons aren’t the main villains… the townspeople are…
And this brings us to Point Number Three… Don’t treasure anything more than Jesus.
This same event in today’s scripture gets narrated in Mark chapter 5 and Luke chapter 8, but only Matthew ends his story on a sad note: the townspeople begging Jesus to leave their region.
Why?
Because a couple thousand pigs ran down to the shore, into the lake, and drowned. And by the way, if you couldn’t figure out that this was a Gentile town before, you should be able to now: only Gentiles—rather than Jews—would be raising pigs. Because it’s against Jewish dietary law to eat pork.
Anyway, the townspeople are not feeling sentimental about the loss of the pigs’ lives; they’re anxious because of the loss of revenue that resulted from the demons taking hold of the pigs and destroying them. Two thousand pigs—which is what Mark puts the number at—represents an enormous loss to the local enconomy. It affected people’s livelihoods…
I feel that, don’t you?
Besides, I remember how I felt five years ago, when my boys and I drove to a public disc golf course near Westminster. There was a wild man—maybe thirty years old—with his shirt off walking in circles around the basket on the second hole, shouting at people. We had just finished the first hole and were headed his way. But my “Spidey sense” was tingling. He seemed dangerous and unpredictable. I didn’t want my boys around him. I’m not saying he was possessed by a demon—but I’m not saying he wasn’t, either! I can’t say. But I called the cops. They came, talked to the man for a while, and then told us they couldn’t arrest him because it was a public park, and walking around shouting wasn’t against the law.
All the same, I felt deep concern for our safety, so my boys and I left and drove to another course.
But you know what I didn’t feel? Compassion for this man. He seemed like a dangerous monster to me, and I wanted nothing to do with him. He was a lost cause, as far as I was concerned.
I imagine the townspeople felt something like that about these two men. “Who cares whether these monsters get healed? But my livelihood… putting food on the table… that matters a great deal to me.”
Well… Jesus isn’t like me… or these townspeople.
Today’s scripture quietly asks us to compare what was lost with what was gained. Two men who had been a lost cause—living among the tombs, cut off from their families, enslaved by evil—have been restored to new life in Christ.
Shouldn’t that matter more than money… [Reflect on Matthew 12:9-14…]
But we’re not only talking about money here… The Bible repeatedly exposes our human tendency to treasure any worldly good—money, security, health, comfort, safety, reputation, personal glory, recognition, beauty, sports, fitness, politics, hobbies—you name it… to treasure these things more than people… more than our mission to reach people with the gospel… more than Christ himself.
We who follow Christ, however, are called to treasure Christ above all.
The townspeople couldn’t do it… and they asked Jesus to leave.
The worst loss the townspeople suffered wasn’t the livestock.
The worst loss was Jesus himself.
That loss is infinitely costly… because he’s worth everything… He’s supposed to be!
So… What is Jesus worth to you… and me?
Paul had an answer: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”[7]
May God give us the grace to do the same…
[1] C.S. Lewis, “The Screwtape Letters” in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics (New York: HarperOne, 2002), 203-4.
[2] Ephesians 6:12 ESV
[3] 2 Corinthians 11:26 ESV
[4] 2 Timothy 2:24-26 ESV
[5] Matthew 25:41 ESV
[6] James 2:19 NLT
[7] Philippians 3:8a