26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus  had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.  34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
— Luke 8:26-39, ESV

Every day is not the same.  Take preaching, for example, one of my primary duties as a Pastor, along with praying.  Tuesday I take on the text I’ve planned to preach, study it in the original language and several translations, take notes, built a liturgy around it, then send the liturgy to the lectors and to Tom for the addition of the hymns.  Wednesday I use my library, research the text, taking advice from trusted scholars.  Thursday I organize my notes into an outline, adding illustrations I’ve gleaned from various sources.  Friday I write a rough draft.  Saturday I smooth out the rough parts.  Sunday I lock it in my mind and preach it from my heart.  Monday I’m brain dead, don’t sermonize, and take the day off.  I don’t pray much on Mondays, either, so if something happens to you on a Monday, you’re toast!

Every day is not the same, but every day is an opportunity to work with the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And while the saints in church need more pastors committed to expository preaching, the unchurched in the world need more Christians committed to everyday evangelism.  Every day is not the same.  But every day presents an opportunity to share the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was an unusual day.

Jesus did not get to Gadara every day.  As far as we know, this was His only stay in this little town, located just off the southeastern coast of the Sea of Galilee.  He sailed through a storm to get there and arrived with purpose, one our Lord would later articulate in what we now call “The Great Commission.”  

Gadara was a Gentile town, filled with lost and unchurched people.  We know it was a Gentile town because one of the principal industries was pig farming.  Pigs are sacred in Arkansas, but no kosher Jewish village would have them.  But in Gadara they called the hogs, and this town by the lake was also blessed with natural hot springs, which drew many tourists.  Sounds like home, doesn’t it?

But before you could say, “Woo, pig suey,” the devils themselves woke up and spoke up.  They were in possession of two lost souls, one of whom becomes the subject of this story and the object of Jesus’ affection.  It all unfolded in a most unusual way on this unusual day.

Some people read the Gospels, then go out and see a demon behind every bush.  Fortunately for us, they don’t work that way.  Demon possessions, like the miracles performed by Jesus and the Apostles, do occur frequently in the Gospels and Acts, but are quite rare in our real lives.  Rare, yes, but still in the realm of possibility.  So, should we be afraid?

I’ve never been so afraid in my life as I was as an 11-year-old kid.  I don’t know why she did it, but my loving mother let me read The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, then took me to see the movie.  To make it ten times worse, my parents were going through a divorce, my dad had moved out of the house, the house was in the country, and we had mice in the house that ran through the walls and attic.  I did not sleep for three months, which probably stunted my growth and caused male pattern baldness latter in life.  

But I am not afraid of the devil today.  That’s because as a 20-year-old college student, my mother took me to church and I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then I repented, believed, and became a Christian.  I started studying Scripture and learned, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).  

No child of God should fear the devil.  As for all others, they should heed the words attributed to many, from French poet Charles Baudelaire to British scholar C.S. Lewis to the fictional character Keyser Söze, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”  He does, and the only protection available is from the God-Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  The gospel is an offer you can’t refuse, yet most people do.

It was met with mixed results.

It is always an unusual and wonderful day when Jesus shows up.  On that day in Gadara, Jesus showed up to preach the gospel.  It was once said by Him and about Him, “‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.’  And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons” (ref. Mark 1:38-39).  

The Gentiles in Gadara had no idea how good God was to them, all of them, on that day.  God showed up, preached good news, and gave relief to two tormented souls.  All it cost was the price of a few pigs.  But every time God does something good in this world, the world reacts with mixed, mostly negative results.  

The pig farmers heard Jesus preach.  They watched Jesus save a soul.  Then, they “asked Him to depart from them,” to take His life-changing, soul-saving gospel and get out of their town.  They influenced almost everyone to reject Jesus, except for one, who would become the everyday evangelist.  

People reject Jesus for a lot of reasons.  Money is near the top of the list.  Jesus had cost Gadara a heard of hogs.  Next to fortune comes fame, people would rather be popular in a world they can see rather than follow the Lord in a kingdom they cannot see.  Pleasure, personal autonomy, and plenty of other reasons keep people from coming to Christ.  And Jesus did not make it any easier when He said, “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (ref. Luke 14:33).  

There was another demoniac delivered that day by Jesus.  He is mentioned by Matthew but not by Mark and Luke.  But he was there, sitting at Jesus’ feet, too, until he wasn’t.  We don’t know exactly what happened to him.  He heard the word of God, accepted deliverance from God, then walked away from God.  

He must have been a Southern Baptist.  Of the millions of us on record, all made some kind of profession of faith, joined one of our churches, then walked away to seldom, if ever, show up to worship and serve the Lord.  There names may be on some lukewarm church’s roll, but they are not in the book of life, and this is a story that won’t end well.

Amidst all of these negative responses to Jesus, one got it right.  We call him the Gadarene Demoniac because we don’t know his name.  “For a long time he had worn no clothes,” so perhaps we could take a cue from Ray Stevens and call him “The Streak.”  But when he heard the words of God and experienced the grace of Jesus, he could not run nor walk away.  We find him “sitting at the feet of Jesus,” the place to receive the gospel and hear the word of God.

This man had somehow let those demons into his life.  Playing with sin leads to dancing with the devil.  Jesus got rid of his devils, and only Jesus can atone for our sins.  Deliverance comes when we hear the gospel, respond in repentance and faith, and cling to Jesus as His follower, worshiper, and witness.  Then we, like this good man, can become everyday evangelists.

It produced an everyday evangelist.

“The Streak” proved the sincerity of his faith by following Jesus to the boat.  He wanted to get in, to join the Apostles, to be on a world-wide mission for God.  But Jesus told him what He tells most of His followers.  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”  

Imagine being the only Christian in a town where everyone else has turned their backs on Christ.  Imagine hearing the command and commission to go about “proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”  Imagine whatever must have happened to this man.

History, archeology, and current statistics tell us.  Gadara was a dark place in Jesus’ day, and it still is, presently located in the country of Jordan, where almost everyone is Muslim.  But did you know, for the past two thousand years, there has been a Christian church in Gadara?  How did it start and how does it survive?

It was accomplished, not by Paul on a missionary journey, nor by some great preacher like Simon Peter or Charles Spurgeon, but by one man, delivered by grace through faith in Jesus, who committed to being an everyday evangelist.

He no doubt began with his previously estranged family.  I am sure they noticed the change right away.  He went to his friends and told them what Jesus had done for him.  Word got out in the city that “The Streak” was now clothed as a good and godly man, no longer being led by the devil, a true follower of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.  Not many, but a a few believed in Jesus.  A church was born, which bears witness to this day, and will one day join their first member in Heaven.

Do you have family members who are lost and unchurched?  Do you have friends who do not know the Lord?  Do you agree with me that most people in our city, state, country, and world are lost without Christ?  

Every day is different.  But everyday is an opportunity to share the gospel and invite people to church.  Don’t wait for Jesus to come back and do it, it will be too late then.  Don’t wait for your pastor or some famous preacher to speak to them, they won’t be impressed.  People need an everyday evangelist, someone who knows them and loves them, to tell them what great things the Lord has done, to invite them to a church where the word of God is preached and the gospel is on display.  

So after worship today, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you!”  You might make someone’s day.  You will be met with a lot of rejection.  If only one will come to Christ, as this text proves, that one matters to God.