GO AND TELL

Mark 5:19, “Go…and report…what great things the Lord has done for you.”

The demon-possessed man was greatly tormented. He had been driven away to live in the tombs (Mark 5:3). He had been bound with shackles and chains, but the demons were powerful enough to enable Him to tear apart the chains and break apart the shackles (Mark 5:3-4). No one was strong enough to subdue him. “Constantly, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones” (Mark 5:5). Luke’s account adds that the man “had not put on any clothing for a long time (Luke 8:27). So violent was the man, and his demon-possessed companion, that no one could pass by them on the road (Matthew’s account speaks of two men). One can imagine children and travelers being warned to avoid these men and that area. They were injurious to themselves and dangerous to their community.

Jesus cast the demons out—into the swine (two thousand of them; PETA would not have been pleased). Instantly the man was made well. The torment ended. The people from the city and the country came to see what happened: “They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the ‘legion.’” (Mark 5:15). The man was no doubt rejoicing in his new found freedom. He begged Jesus that he might accompany Him. But Jesus did not permit Him and instead told him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). It would have been wonderful to hear that man tell the story of how Jesus delivered him! He no doubt did as he was instructed. We too have a story to tell.

“Go…and report…what great things the Lord has done for you.” You may have heard of Jeremy Lin. His sudden emergence as an NBA star has brought to him a lot of attention. The New York Knicks have been undefeated since his recent insertion into the starting lineup. So what is Jeremy Lin thinking about his sudden rise to stardom in the NBA? “I’m thinking about how I can trust God more? How can I surrender more? How can I bring Him more glory?” Lin is an outspoken Christian and has made it no secret that he thanks God for everything in his life. Interviewed after hitting a game winning shot at the end of yesterday’s game with Toronto, Jeremy Lin said this: “I just thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” To be sure it is only basketball, but his readiness to speak of Christ is both refreshing and encouraging. He is fulfilling what is commanded in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

“Go…and report…what great things the Lord has done for you.” J. C. Ryle, “If we have anything to tell others about Christ, let us resolve to tell it. Let us not be silent, if we have found peace and rest in the Gospel. Let us speak to our relations, and friends, and families, and neighbors, according as we have opportunity, and tell them what the Lord has done for our souls. All are not called to be ministers. All are not intended to preach. But all can walk in the steps of the man of whom we have been reading, and in the steps of Andrew, and Philip, and the Samaritan woman (John 1:41, 45; 4:29). Happy is he who is not ashamed to say to others, “Come and hear what the Lord has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16).

Share His love by telling what the Lord has done for you,
Share His love by sharing of your faith,
And show the world that Jesus Christ is real to you
Ev’ry moment, ev’ry day.

Pastor Jerry