| January 13/14, 2007 | Moving Toward Wholeness: Addictions | Mark 5:1-20 |
Have you ever tried to hide something?
There was once an old man who was driving his truck down the road with a horse trailer behind. A wild driver in a red sports car bolted around the curve ahead, hit the old man, and ran him off the road. It was an awful wreck. His truck ended up in a ditch on one side of the road, and the horse and trailer flipped into the ditch on the other side of the road.
Even though the young man in the sports car was obviously at fault, he and his lawyer decided to fight it in court. They felt like they had a good defense against the old man. During the trial, the old man was on the witness stand and began to be interrogated by the attorney about the wreck. The attorney said, “Now look, in the accident report it is stated that at the time of the wreck you claimed you were okay. You made this very clear to the two policemen who arrived at the scene. And now you are claiming all kinds of personal damage – broken bones, neck and back injuries, and so on. Now which testimony are we to believe? The one at the scene of the accident when you said, ‘I’m okay! I’m okay!’ or your present claims of personal damages? You just cannot have it both ways. It’s either one or the other.”
The old man responded with great calm and confidence saying, “Let me explain something to you. When the two policemen arrived on the scene of the accident, they first walked over to my horse in the ditch right across from me. One of them said to the other, ‘Is that horse okay?’ The other one answered, ‘No!’ At that point they both took out their guns and shot him dead! Then the two policemen walked across the road to where I was lying. They looked at me and one of them said, ‘Are you okay?’ And I saw what they had done to my horse so I said, ‘I’m okay! I’m okay!’”
This man was afraid to admit how he really was, because of what might happen to him. Because of his initial fear, he didn’t tell the truth and he covered up his pain and his hurt. Have you ever tried to cover up your pain and hurt?
We live in a world where there are a lot of people attempting to cover up pain and hurt. In fact, some of us in this room are dealing with pain and hurt. And some here are struggling with addictions to cover the pain and the hurt.
We are continuing our sermon series called Moving Toward Wholeness: Overcoming Life’s Hurts. Today we are going to talk about the destructive power of Addictions. While our scripture for today, doesn’t directly talk about addictions as we understand them in our society. It does do a good job of pointing the way to hope and healing for people who struggle with pain and hurt and addiction.
In our scripture we meet a man living among the tombs. That is his home. That is where he has been thrown away to. The society in which he lives has given up on him. We are told that no one can control him. They even tried to place chains on him, but it never worked, he even broke the chains. So they threw him away. They cast him out. The only place for him to live, was the place where people had died. How is that for hope?
If you are in this room today, and you have struggled with addictions, you might know how this man felt. Because if you have ever hit bottom, you know what it is like to feel alone. You know what it is like to feel cast. You know what it is like to lose everything that is important to you.
For those of you, who are struggling with addictions, but have not yet hit bottom. If you are here today and in the back of your mind, you know you have a problem, but you are working hard at denying you have a problem. I hope you listen close. Because you are at risk of losing everything because of those addictions. They can destroy your life as you know it.
So where is our hope? How can we experience healing? Steps one and two of the twelve step program remind us that the path to healing begins when we realize that we are powerless over our addiction and that we need help from God. In this scripture, the man living among the tombs cannot be controlled. His illness, the demons that possess his life, have control over him and they have ruined his life. What are the demons that influence and possess your life? Do you face an addiction to alcohol? To drugs? To sex? To food? To shopping?
What is it that influences and possesses you that you need to be honest about and ask God to come into your life and make a difference with. When the man in the story realized that Jesus could heal him and he allowed Jesus to help him, that was when he started on the path to wholeness.
Living a life of faith is really about letting God be a part of our life. It is about letting God be a part of the decisions we make for our lifestyle. God wants to bring healing to us. We need to once again invite God to help us along the path.
Once an officer told his story: “I have served in the army ever since I was quite young. When I started off, I did very well. I was conscientious. I worked hard. I quickly rose up through the ranks and became an officer.
“But then, because I was young, and all my friends were doing it, I started drinking. For me, drinking became an illness. When I would drink, I couldn’t stop and I would be sick for days. At first my superiors were patient with me. But then, because of rudeness during drinking, I lost rank. Finally, I was demoted back to private and then, because of rudeness again, during drinking, I was to be sent to a place, far away from my family. It was almost more than I could bear.
“I was sitting on my bunk, moping, when a monk come by, begging alms for the church. When he saw me and when he saw how downcast I was he asked me, ‘What is wrong?’ I told him about my drinking and all the problems it had caused.
“He said, ‘I have a brother who also had the same problem. Our superior told him to read from the Gospels every time he had an urge to drink. It has now been 15 years since he has had a drink. Would you like to try it?’
“I was skeptical. But what did I have to lose. So I said, ‘yes.’
“He came back a couple of days later with a copy of the Bible. I looked at it and it didn’t make sense to me. He was patient and said, ‘When you start, just read. Don’t worry. Understanding will come later. Just read until the urge to drink passes away.’
“I took the Bible and threw it into my footlocker and forgot about it. Much later the urge to drink came over me and I opened my footlocker and there was a copy of the Bible. I picked it up and sat down on my bunk. I read the first chapter of Matthew. It didn’t make any sense to me. I read the second and the third and the fourth. While reading that chapter the curfew bell rang and I couldn’t leave the barracks.
“The next morning, I was set to go running off to get a drink and I saw that copy of the scriptures and I started reading again. I never did get that drink. It has now been more than 20 years since I have had a drink. As I got sober, I started to rise back through the ranks in the army. I have been fortunate enough to find a beautiful woman to marry. We have a son who is also an officer in the army. I am so grateful that God has brought healing to my life.”
If you are here today and you are in need of healing, I want to invite you to look at the demons that influence and possess your life. Can you be honest about the destructive power they have over you? Are you willing to trust that God can help bring healing to your life, just as God did to one as good as dead so long ago?
May God help us to live a life of faith.
Amen