Is there such a thing as evil spirituality?Mark 1:21-28
PRAY
Is there such a thing as evil spirituality?
Context- Mark plays out Jesus’ role as Messiah as a secret
Mark 1:21-28
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!"
25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Well is there such a thing as evil spirituality?
Yes. Evil is very real- and evil likes nothing more than to twist and subdue the spirits of God’s people-
What is good spirituality?
A lot of things are said and done in the name of "spirituality" these days. But just because someone or something is said to be spiritual- doesn’t mean that they are- and even if they are "spiritual" this doesn’t mean that they are serving the right only Holy Spirit.
Spirituality- in and of itself is not really a biblical word- this doesn’t mean it isn’t a Christian word- for example the word Trinity is not in the Bible- but we draw it as a truth out of the Bible-
Story- I taught a class at another church called the spirituality of the cross- based on a book with that same title. After the first week I got a call from a concerned student. "Should we be studying spirituality?" "Shouldn’t we be studying the Christian faith?"
This was a classic misunderstanding. To be a Christian, is by definition to be spiritual. We believe that the Resurrected Jesus blew the Holy Spirit upon his disciples- we also believe that at Pentecost God displayed that faith in Jesus Christ would cause the Spirit of God to spread around the world- from believer to believer.
Each person of faith would have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in and with them- this is God’s promise.
Therefore those who believe in Christ- have the Good Holy spirit in their life and the way the participate and respond to the Spirit is their spirituality
The Holy Spirit will convict you about sin- this is part of good spirituality
The Holy Spirit will lead you to give and do good to others- these are spiritual acts
The Holy Spirit will bless you when come into the presence of other believers
The Holy Spirit will lead you to prayer- I believe you cannot on your own pray- every time you pray God has been activating that in your life
The Holy Spirit leads you in worship
One of my goals I have as your pastor this year is this, and I quote, "Discipleship- I will encourage the spiritual growth of current and future disciples at Palouse Federated
I want for myself and for you to be more responsive to the Spirit of God in our lives
Are there really evil spirits?
Yes.- according to scripture and tradition- and the more we deny that, the more likely we are to give them a foothold in our lives. But how influential are they really? Do we give evil too much credit?
Star Wars- are a popular movies- you may have heard of them.
There is the force in these movies- you know what they say about the force- it is like duct tape it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together. But this is not a Christian understanding of the world.
We do not believe that evil is as strong as good- we are not dualists. We believe that there is an ultimate Good God- and that nothing can challenge- the devil and all his minions are but a passing wisp of smoke compared to the great bonfire that is our God.
My opinion is that some believers talk of spirits and evil too little and some too much- the middle ground of believing in their presence- but not lending them power is the right place.
When I was a kid Ghostbusters the movie came out- it was a pretty popular deal.The Ghost busters got famous by trapping ghosts.
Here we see that Jesus was giving orders to spirits way before Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray. God can knock spirits out of your life with just a word or two- no equipment necessary. Spirituality is evil when it distracts you from the plan- the reality- that God has for your life. God is the real evilbuster- so who you gonna call?
Spirituality is evil when it is misleading- taking you away from the direction God has for your life- a relationship with Jesus that leads us to live Christian lives- we hear of this misleading in our OT scripture. Prophets were punished severely if they shared misleading information.
The real attempt at evil here is to distract Jesus from his main mission.
Sometimes we are being an evil distraction in someone’s life. Like the scripture from Corinthians, we may be doing things- that hinder another believer’s relationship with God. We may give them advice that they aren’t ready to hear- sometimes we are talking when we should just be listening- we should follow the modern proverb: A closed mouth gathers no foot
My understanding is that the man stood up just as Jesus was beginning to preach- so he really hadn’t had a chance to get his message across yet- the evil inside the man wanted to steal the show- and distract the others before Jesus had a chance to influence any of the lives that were there that day.
So even though the story does not say that he started preaching again after the exorcism- we know that he must have- because of the reflection that they were amazed at his teaching.
So evil- can be obvious and subtle and in between- in this case it was both
It was an obvious- blatant- attention stealing episode in the middle of a worship service
The possessed man is trying to tap in to the fears of the worshipers that day.All around the room there were people thinking- "But if I follow this guy- that would change everything" or "If this Jesus is the Messiah- how will Rome react?"
The evil spirit was not just there to interrupt Jesus’s sermon- he was also there to increase fear in the minds and hearts of the people there that day.
What amazed the people the most? Jesus’ Teaching with authority
Interruption and distraction can also mean opportunity.
Sometimes there are just these little things in our family, life, or in the church that bug us so bad- and we focus on them and get all upset- and we get blinded to the big ugly evil that could be and often is lurking in and around us. Jesus used this momentary distraction to establish his authority for teaching the people about good and evil in their lives.
Yes they witnessed what we would call an exorcism. But the exclamation point in this story is not reserved for the banishing of the spirit- it is placed on the excitement of Jesus’ teaching.
The people were excited to be taught by someone who had authority- and yes he can even tell the evil spirits where to go. But they needed more than an exorcist as a savior. They needed someone who could step into their everyday life and bring a living truth that touched their hearts and caused them to live life better.
There is a lot of distracting teaching and conservative and liberal- theology out there that boils God down to a theory that we can understand- and therefore control. But our God is beyond our control- like Aslan the lion in Narnia- God is not tame.
God has authority- remember this today- God is in control. God wants nothing more than to have a living relationship with you. This is the one place where God has surrendered his authority.
He can’t force you to love him. To follow Him. To love others. To forgive to serve to worship. But he urges you to do all of these and much more.
God’s spirit is in the world- God’s Holy Spirit- if you believe in Jesus- is in your life- urging you to surrender authority of your life.
It’s a wonderful thing. To live a life as God’s servant. To live in God’s plan, under God’s authority, in God’s story- there’s nothing like it. I’m done guessing what God’s gonna do- I’m done figuring out God- boiling God down to a theory that I can understand- every time I do that- I end up leading a distracting, misleading life.
Is there such a thing as evil spirituality?
Context- Mark plays out Jesus’ role as Messiah as a secret
Mark 1:21-28
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!"
25 "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Well is there such a thing as evil spirituality?
Yes. Evil is very real- and evil likes nothing more than to twist and subdue the spirits of God’s people-
What is good spirituality?
A lot of things are said and done in the name of "spirituality" these days. But just because someone or something is said to be spiritual- doesn’t mean that they are- and even if they are "spiritual" this doesn’t mean that they are serving the right only Holy Spirit.
Spirituality- in and of itself is not really a biblical word- this doesn’t mean it isn’t a Christian word- for example the word Trinity is not in the Bible- but we draw it as a truth out of the Bible-
Story- I taught a class at another church called the spirituality of the cross- based on a book with that same title. After the first week I got a call from a concerned student. "Should we be studying spirituality?" "Shouldn’t we be studying the Christian faith?"
This was a classic misunderstanding. To be a Christian, is by definition to be spiritual. We believe that the Resurrected Jesus blew the Holy Spirit upon his disciples- we also believe that at Pentecost God displayed that faith in Jesus Christ would cause the Spirit of God to spread around the world- from believer to believer.
Each person of faith would have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in and with them- this is God’s promise.
Therefore those who believe in Christ- have the Good Holy spirit in their life and the way the participate and respond to the Spirit is their spirituality
The Holy Spirit will convict you about sin- this is part of good spirituality
The Holy Spirit will lead you to give and do good to others- these are spiritual acts
The Holy Spirit will bless you when come into the presence of other believers
The Holy Spirit will lead you to prayer- I believe you cannot on your own pray- every time you pray God has been activating that in your life
The Holy Spirit leads you in worship
One of my goals I have as your pastor this year is this, and I quote, "Discipleship- I will encourage the spiritual growth of current and future disciples at Palouse Federated
I want for myself and for you to be more responsive to the Spirit of God in our lives
Are there really evil spirits?
Yes.- according to scripture and tradition- and the more we deny that, the more likely we are to give them a foothold in our lives. But how influential are they really? Do we give evil too much credit?
Star Wars- are a popular movies- you may have heard of them.
There is the force in these movies- you know what they say about the force- it is like duct tape it has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together. But this is not a Christian understanding of the world.
We do not believe that evil is as strong as good- we are not dualists. We believe that there is an ultimate Good God- and that nothing can challenge- the devil and all his minions are but a passing wisp of smoke compared to the great bonfire that is our God.
My opinion is that some believers talk of spirits and evil too little and some too much- the middle ground of believing in their presence- but not lending them power is the right place.
When I was a kid Ghostbusters the movie came out- it was a pretty popular deal.The Ghost busters got famous by trapping ghosts.
Here we see that Jesus was giving orders to spirits way before Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray. God can knock spirits out of your life with just a word or two- no equipment necessary. Spirituality is evil when it distracts you from the plan- the reality- that God has for your life. God is the real evilbuster- so who you gonna call?
Spirituality is evil when it is misleading- taking you away from the direction God has for your life- a relationship with Jesus that leads us to live Christian lives- we hear of this misleading in our OT scripture. Prophets were punished severely if they shared misleading information.
The real attempt at evil here is to distract Jesus from his main mission.
Sometimes we are being an evil distraction in someone’s life. Like the scripture from Corinthians, we may be doing things- that hinder another believer’s relationship with God. We may give them advice that they aren’t ready to hear- sometimes we are talking when we should just be listening- we should follow the modern proverb: A closed mouth gathers no foot
My understanding is that the man stood up just as Jesus was beginning to preach- so he really hadn’t had a chance to get his message across yet- the evil inside the man wanted to steal the show- and distract the others before Jesus had a chance to influence any of the lives that were there that day.
So even though the story does not say that he started preaching again after the exorcism- we know that he must have- because of the reflection that they were amazed at his teaching.
So evil- can be obvious and subtle and in between- in this case it was both
It was an obvious- blatant- attention stealing episode in the middle of a worship service
The possessed man is trying to tap in to the fears of the worshipers that day.All around the room there were people thinking- "But if I follow this guy- that would change everything" or "If this Jesus is the Messiah- how will Rome react?"
The evil spirit was not just there to interrupt Jesus’s sermon- he was also there to increase fear in the minds and hearts of the people there that day.
What amazed the people the most? Jesus’ Teaching with authority
Interruption and distraction can also mean opportunity.
Sometimes there are just these little things in our family, life, or in the church that bug us so bad- and we focus on them and get all upset- and we get blinded to the big ugly evil that could be and often is lurking in and around us. Jesus used this momentary distraction to establish his authority for teaching the people about good and evil in their lives.
Yes they witnessed what we would call an exorcism. But the exclamation point in this story is not reserved for the banishing of the spirit- it is placed on the excitement of Jesus’ teaching.
The people were excited to be taught by someone who had authority- and yes he can even tell the evil spirits where to go. But they needed more than an exorcist as a savior. They needed someone who could step into their everyday life and bring a living truth that touched their hearts and caused them to live life better.
There is a lot of distracting teaching and conservative and liberal- theology out there that boils God down to a theory that we can understand- and therefore control. But our God is beyond our control- like Aslan the lion in Narnia- God is not tame.
God has authority- remember this today- God is in control. God wants nothing more than to have a living relationship with you. This is the one place where God has surrendered his authority.
He can’t force you to love him. To follow Him. To love others. To forgive to serve to worship. But he urges you to do all of these and much more.
God’s spirit is in the world- God’s Holy Spirit- if you believe in Jesus- is in your life- urging you to surrender authority of your life.
It’s a wonderful thing. To live a life as God’s servant. To live in God’s plan, under God’s authority, in God’s story- there’s nothing like it. I’m done guessing what God’s gonna do- I’m done figuring out God- boiling God down to a theory that I can understand- every time I do that- I end up leading a distracting, misleading life.
posted by Palouse Fed. Church at 11:37 PM
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