No Neutral Ground

There is no neutral ground in the universe.

Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.

CS Lewis said that many years ago.

There is no neutral ground.

Here at NorthernLife, for the past, well, three, four months, we've been going through the Gospel of Mark, and we have come back to Mark 1 verse 15, time and time again.

The time has come, Jesus said, the kingdom of God has come near.

Repent and believe the good news.

And we've seen throughout the story of Mark that as the kingdom of God comes, as King Jesus brings the kingdom, it comes over sickness and disease, and it comes through the teaching and the parables of Jesus, and it comes casting out demons.

But there's a sense underneath all of the aspects of the kingdom of God that it is displacing the dominion of the enemy because there is no neutral ground.

As the kingdom of God comes into the earth, it is not taking neutral ground, but it is taking ground from the enemy.

I think in our passage tonight, which Courtney read for us in Mark 5, Jesus takes ground for the kingdom.

And if he takes ground for the kingdom, it is ground from the enemy.

So in this message today, I want to, or tonight, explore the idea that there is perhaps no neutral ground in our lives.

And because there is no neutral ground in our lives, every part of our self, our complex, multifaceted lives, we must choose to yield to the king and the kingdom of God.

And if we do not yield to God, then it is, as CS Lewis would say, counterclaimed by the enemy.

There is no neutral ground.

We're going to jump into our story, Mark 5 verse 1.

They went across the lake to the region of the Jeroceans.

For context, Chapter 4 is the story of Jesus calming the storm.

The disciples and Jesus have crossed from the eastern shore, sorry, the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, across the lake, Jesus has calmed the storm.

We looked at that last Sunday night, and now they have arrived on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

That has just happened, and now the very boat that Jesus calmed the storm in has landed.

Verse 2, when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

In Greek, there's the word immediately in there.

Immediately upon landing, a man came from the tombs to meet him.

Do you know what terra nullius is?

Terra nullius is that Latin phrase which means land belonging to no one, no man's land.

There's a sense in which Jesus arrives on the other side of the lake and it is not terra nullius.

He arrives and is immediately confronted by a foreign power.

He doesn't arrive in neutral ground.

In fact, you could say Jesus has landed among foreign people in a foreign place under a foreign power.

And numerous details, I think, of the story confirm the foreignness of this story.

Firstly, the Jerecenes were Gentile people, meaning they were not Jews.

Jerasa was that region southeast of the Sea of Galilee that was Gentile territory.

We know that pigs to Jews were impure and unholy.

The Jews were not to associate with pigs and also tombs.

Anything that touches death or that was associated with death was impure for the Jews.

So all these little details are kind of combining to show us this is a region that is opposed to God.

This is not Israel.

This is not the kingdom of God.

It is a foreign people in a foreign place under a foreign power.

As James Edwards says, Jesus meets a man with an unclean spirit living among unclean tombs surrounded by people employed in unclean occupations all in unclean, gentile territory.

And it is here, in this place, that Jesus lands.

And like some historical World War II D-Day moment, he establishes a beachhead for the kingdom of God in this foreign place.

And as he arrives, the text shows us that he is immediately confronted by a foreign power.

And that foreign power is a man who is possessed by a demon.

Mark 5 verse 3.

This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been chained, hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.

No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

This foreign people in this foreign place are clearly under this foreign power.

In verse 3, there was something called in the Greek, that there's a triple negative, which is obscured in the English.

It says, not any chains, not any one, and not any longer could this man be bound.

Clearly, this man or more accurately, the demon possessing him is in charge of this region.

People cannot bind him.

He is let loose and he owns the land.

And that's where Jesus has entered.

He's landed in the boat.

And we know that King Jesus brings with himself the kingdom of God wherever he goes.

And so now, the stage is set for a clash of powers.

Here is Jesus, King Jesus bringing his kingdom into a foreign place among foreign people under a foreign power.

And there is a battle that is set up.

And that's verses 6-13, Jesus versus Legion.

Really, I should say battle with quotation marks, because it's not much of a battle when you read it.

Mark 5 verse 6, When the demon-possessed man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.

He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

In God's name, don't torture me.

It's not really a battle, as we come to see, and yet the demon, I think in the way that Mark tells the story, the demon tries every trick in the book to gain power over Jesus, to try and flip the power dynamic.

In verse 6, it's possible that the demon is fake in paying worship and homage to Jesus as a way of trying to flip the power dynamic.

In verse 17, it's a DTR, as the young people would say, to find the relationship.

In Greek, literally, it's when it says, what do you want with me?

It's in Greek, what are you and me?

The demon says, what are we?

What is our relationship here?

Are we going to have a fight or can we co-exist?

7b, the demon tries to gain power over Jesus by naming him.

It was thought in the first century world that if you could name something, give it something that's true name, then you gained power over that thing.

The demon is calling Jesus the son of the Most High God in order to try and gain power over him in this battle.

And then finally, at the end of verse 7, in God's name, don't torture me, the demon calls on the name of God himself in order to try and gain power over Jesus and delay the inevitable.

And then all that leads to Mark 5 verse 8.

For Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you impure spirit.

When I came across this, that verse, verse 8 this week, I thought, oh, okay, so Jesus had said to him, meaning that had happened before, so I almost copy pasted verse 8 and put it at the start of the story.

So Jesus cast the demon out, but then the demons speak, and I got all like twisted up in the chronology.

And then as I was reading some of the commentaries that explain why verse 8 is where it is, most people were saying, don't worry about trying to build a strictly historical chronology, but just trust Mark.

Mark has chosen to tell this story with the details in the particular order that they are in.

So let's just read left to right, top to bottom, and pick up on the details as they come up.

When we read it like that, I think we see verse 8 is positioned where it is for the purpose of highlighting the futility of the demon's efforts.

Here is the demon, as Mark characterizes him, trying every trick, naming Jesus, bowing down before him, begging him in God's name to gain power over him.

And then verse 8 comes in and just says Jesus had told the impure spirit to come out.

We see there's really no battle here.

The demon tries everything, but Jesus, with a couple of words, beats him.

It's like when my brother and I used to rumble with dad when we were kids.

There were times when we would win.

We had pinned his arms and we were tickling him or whatever you do.

We had won and he stayed like that for 10 seconds.

And then he beats us.

And he shows, oh, we had never beaten him.

He had all the power the whole time.

In the same way, I think, Mark is showing, oh, Jesus has all the power.

The demon could try a hundred tricks.

It will never gain full power over Jesus.

But verse 8 says, Jesus with words, that's it, by authority commands the impure spirit to come out.

The story continues in verse 9.

Then Jesus asked him, what is your name?

He flips the question around.

What is your name?

My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many.

And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

It's kind of spooky to think that one demon is many demons all inside a human being.

But again, I don't think Mark is teaching us complex demonology of understanding how he's not trying to do that.

I think what he's doing is highlighting the fact that this man is possessed by multiple demons, but we can't understand that.

All we know is this demon possessed man is again trying to use every tactic to gain power over Jesus.

By claiming to be many, by emphasizing the plurality of this possession, the demon possessed man is trying to gain power over Jesus.

It's interesting that the pronoun flips from singular to plural.

It says in verse 10, he begged, meaning singular, he begged Jesus again and again not to send them.

And what he's begging is, do not send us out of the area.

In other words, let us keep our power here.

Let us control this land.

Do not send us out.

And yet that's not what happens.

Verse 11, a large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.

The demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them.

He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs.

The herd, about 2,000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

It's a pretty brutal conclusion to the story, especially if you like pigs.

But no matter who you are, it's a brutal ending to the story.

But I think, again, Jesus is brilliant, and Mark, who has chosen to tell this story, is brilliant, because, well, let me show you, the man is possessed by many, many demons that torture him.

He is a really tortured, unfortunate, poor soul.

We know that pigs, to the Jews, according to Leviticus 11 verse 7, were unclean.

Jews were not to associate with pigs.

And so the fact that there are pigs here is kind of a sign to the Jewish reader of Mark that this is a foreign land.

The kingdom of God has not come into this land.

The sea was thought of by the Jews in the first century and much long before that as the abode of the dead, the realm where evil spirits and everything that is against God came from.

And of course, these impure spirits that are in the man are those very powers that are against God.

All these details are showing us the whole region is set up against God.

The kingdom is not here.

And then in the climax of the story, Jesus with what seems like a flick of his wrist or a nod of his head cleans house.

In one move, Jesus sets the entire region to right again.

He sets the man free of this torturous experience of being possessed by multiple demons.

The unclean pigs, which were a sign of that which is unholy, are dealt with, 2,000 of them at once.

The demons, the impure spirits are cast into the pigs and put back where they belong in the sea.

In every way, the kingdom of God has come in this land.

The battle is won by Jesus, and the enemy is driven away.

So, among these foreign people in a foreign place under a foreign power, the kingdom of God has come.

And because there is no neutral ground, as the kingdom comes, the enemy is pushed back where he belongs.

In verse 14, we see that the news of this event spreads throughout the area.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

Now, before they come back, I want to sort of step back a little bit and zoom out from this one story and see where this story fits in the broader picture of the Gospel of Mark.

What I think we see when we zoom out is Mark has chosen to place this story in a particular spot so that it reflects like a mirror a previous story.

And that previous story is a story which happened on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, both geographically but also textually.

Geographically in the sense that they have now crossed over to the southeast side, but they came from the west, and that's where the first story happens.

But even textually, this is so cool.

Chapter 5 is our story tonight, which happens on the eastern side.

All of Chapter 4 of Mark is what happens on the lake or immediately around the lake.

And Chapter 3 is where the story that I'm about to read comes from.

It's almost like Mark is showing us, not that Mark came up with the chapter divisions, that was a later thing, but there is this point that is being made that these two stories reflect each other.

So, let me read the first story in Mark 3 verse 22.

And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul.

By the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables.

How can Satan drive out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand.

His end has come.

In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up.

Then he can plunder the strong man's house.

If we are to take the notion that Mark has placed these two stories as a mirror, what I think we see in holding the two is the first is the theological principle, and the second is the illustrative story.

The first, Jesus teaches the idea that Satan must be bound by another power, a power that is higher and greater than he.

And then the story, which is what we've been reading tonight, is the illustration of the principle.

In the story, that very power, the power of Jesus, comes into the region of the Jeresenes, binding Satan and sending him away.

The story illustrates the principle.

And I think if we were to step back again and see what is Mark trying to do by putting these stories together, it's making us ask the question, what is the kingdom like?

In other words, what is the king like?

Is he good?

Is he bad?

Jesus has shown firstly by the principle and then by the illustrative story that Satan must be and is bound by another power and that a new power replaces the dominion of the enemy.

So now the question is, what is this new kingdom like?

What is this new king like?

We were watching last night a historical drama about the moment that the Nazis invaded Poland.

And there's this sense in the characters of the story who were Polish Jews that they are wondering, what is this new power like?

They see Hitler and the Nazis enter Poland.

They see that and they think, oh, there is a new power in Poland.

This region is under new control.

And the question is, what is the new power like?

In the same way, this region, the region of the Jerozines, has recently, in fact, just right now, been totally transformed.

The kingdom of God has come and driven out the dominion of the enemy.

And so the question is, well, what is this new power like?

What is this new king like?

And as you think about that question, there is pretty much two directions that you could answer.

That Jesus and his kingdom is an even worse evil or a much greater good.

And the story continues in verse 14.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there dressed in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well.

Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

Think about what's happening here.

That Jesus has brought his kingdom, transformed the entire place.

He has brought the realm and reign of God into this jerosene territory, and the people drive him away.

The people reject the coming kingdom of Jesus.

And I think that is because they think that the kingdom of Jesus and King Jesus himself is an even worse evil, not a much greater good.

Maybe it was the pigs.

Maybe the economic loss of losing 2,000 pigs was what kind of drove them to see Jesus in that way.

Or maybe they had come to hate the man so much that the notion that Jesus could have mercy on him and that he might be restored to their community was too much for them.

Either way, the people, the jeresenes, the Gentile foreign people, drive Jesus away and they reject his coming kingdom.

But what did the man do?

The once demon-possessed man in Mark 5 verse 18.

As Jesus was getting in the boat, as in getting back in the boat to leave this region, because they kick him out, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.

Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.

And all the people were amazed.

This man, I think, chooses to see that Jesus is not an even worse evil, but a much greater good.

You think about the experience of this man.

He knows what it's like to be occupied by many, many demonic spirits.

He knows what it's like to be under the power of evil.

And he knows what it's like to be set free by Jesus.

And so he recognizes that Jesus is not an even worse evil, but a much, much, much, much greater good.

He wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus has other plans, it seems.

Jesus sends him out and he becomes the first Gentile missionary to the Gentiles in the region of the Decapolis.

There is no neutral ground in the universe, CS Lewis said.

Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.

There is no neutral ground.

If you and I follow Jesus, that means, theologically, that the kingdom of God has come in our lives.

King Jesus reigns over who we are and the things that we do.

To be a Christian is to declare Jesus as Lord.

We've had 21 baptisms so far this year.

And in every one of the 21, the words that the person getting baptized says is, I believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

To be a Christian is to declare the Lordship of Jesus.

And yet, there is this sense, at least I feel it, and I think maybe hopefully more than, well, not hopefully, I hope you're better than me, but I think that we feel this, this tendency to declare Jesus as Lord generally, as in over my whole life, Jesus is Lord.

But specifically, when it comes to what I do after 10 p.m.

on Saturday nights, Jesus is not Lord of that part of my life.

We have this tendency, I have this tendency, to say Jesus is Lord overall, and most of my life falls into line with that proposition, and yet part of me, part of my life, I hold back.

And I say, no, not your way, my way.

I'll do my way when it comes to whatever it is.

And I really can't say what it is, because it will be different for all of us.

The part of our life that we're tempted to hold on to.

And yet I think this passage highlights the fact that there is no neutral ground.

So if there is a part of our life that is not yielded to the King and to the Kingdom of God, it is not neutral, but it is counterclaimed by the enemy, and is useful for his purposes against God.

And of course, if we are those who have declared the Lordship of Jesus over our whole life, that is not a good prospect that the enemy might have us in a specific part of our life.

What does it mean to perhaps not declare Jesus is Lord?

Well, it might mean that Jesus is Lord on Sunday nights from 5 p.m.

to 6 p.m.

He's Lord, so I go to church because He's Lord, but after 10 p.m.

on Saturday night, that's my time.

It might mean that we say Jesus is Lord over X percent of my money, but the rest of it is mine.

I am Lord over the rest of my money.

In our sexuality, our hobbies, our words, our thoughts, every part of our life, we could have this tendency to not yield it to the King and to the Kingdom, but to hold on to it and to do it our way.

James 4 verse 4 is strong language.

He says, You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?

Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

There is no neutral ground, and any part of our life that is not yielded to the King and the Kingdom is not neutral, but is useful for the purposes of the enemy.

So, the all important question is, why do we do this?

Why is it that we could broadly say Jesus is Lord, but specifically in some areas we will hold back?

I think from the passage we see that the reason we do not give it to Jesus is we think to do so would be an even worse evil and not a much greater good.

As in, in the area of, say, our thoughts.

It's a very private thing.

No one knows what you're thinking about, and yet that might be an area where you are Lord or Lady over your own thoughts.

And you will not yield it to Jesus because subconsciously or maybe consciously, we have this idea that if I was to take on Jesus' way of thinking, Jesus' way of governing my thoughts, it would not be as good as if I was to do it my way.

Or with sexuality or entertainment, music, anything that we do in life that we do not yield to God.

The reason we don't yield to God is because we think our way is better than his way.

We think if I was to come under the Lordship of Jesus in this specific area, it would not be as good.

It would be to me an even worse evil and not a much greater good.

For me, this is a trivial example.

In traffic, someone cuts you off or someone doesn't go when the light goes green.

You have two options, Jesus' way or the human way.

Jesus' way would be forgiving that person, blessing them, praying for them, praying, wow, they must have had a really late night because they haven't slept well.

That's why they're taking so long to take the green.

The Jesus' way would be something like that.

Or there's the human way, which is not that.

And that might be different for all of us, but far too often I choose my way.

And the reason I do that is I think I'd rather do my way, thank you very much.

If I was to do Jesus' way, it wouldn't vindicate me.

I wouldn't be able to vent my frustration.

Obviously, that's a trivial example, but it's illustrative of a much, much, much deeper and more serious problem that we have.

That in some really important parts of our life, we cling to the way we want to do these things and reject Jesus' way because we don't think it is as good as our way.

Jeremiah 2 verse 13 says, My people have, this is God speaking, My people have committed two sins.

They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

In a sense, what Jeremiah might be saying is, there's two sins that are at play here.

Firstly is to not declare Jesus is Lord, to take Lordship away from him is the first sin, and the second is to put that crown on our heads, to say that in whatever area of our life, I will be in charge is the second sin.

The two sins that we commit, Mark 1 verse 15, I'll say it again for the 500th time, Jesus said, the time has come, the kingdom of God has come near.

And then he says this, this right here is the paradigm of the kingdom coming.

If you want the kingdom to come into your life, which is what we want, I assume, if you want the kingdom to come, these are Jesus' instructions, repent and believe.

And I think that maps almost perfectly onto the two sins of Jeremiah 2.13, that firstly we need to repent from putting the crown on our head, as it were, repent from choosing to do things in our way, and then we need to believe that his way is the better way, believe that what Jesus has for us is actually our good, ultimately, repenting from our way of doing things and believing in the goodness of the Lord.

I think if we are to make progress in these areas of our life, we must be filled with a vision of the goodness of Jesus and the goodness of his kingdom, such that when it comes to that fork in the road, when the person cuts you off, or when those temptation, tempting thoughts come at night, or whatever the situation is, when we're at that fork, if we are filled with a vision of the goodness of Jesus' way, we will see that as the desirable path, only by the Spirit, not because of our strength, but hopefully, prayerfully, as we are moved and transformed by the Holy Spirit, we come to see our ways suck.

They bring death into our lives and death into our world, but Jesus' way is better.

John 10 verse 10, Jesus said, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

1 John 5 verse 2.

This is how we know that we love the children of God, by loving God and carrying out His commands.

In fact, this is love for God, to keep His commands.

And His commands are not burdensome.

It is a good way for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

Matthew 11, 28, Come to me, Jesus said, all you who were weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

I wish I could quote the entire Sermon on the Mount, but we don't have time.

My favorite part of the Bible, you read the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus covers almost every aspect of human life, the way we deal with lust, anger, contempt, money, everything else.

You read the Sermon on the Mount prayerfully and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the goodness of Jesus' vision for life, and I think that we will be transformed.

When we come to those forks in the road where we choose either my way or Jesus' way, we will realize His way is the better way.

His way brings life to us and life to those who we are in contact with.

His way is so much better.

CS Lewis said as I wrap up, CS Lewis said, There is no neutral ground in the universe.

Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.

I think we are called to become those who both declare the Lordship of Jesus over all and in all.

We declare generally Jesus is Lord.

When in baptism, in coming to faith for the first time, Jesus is Lord.

I will try and as your Spirit empowers me to live out your way.

But then specifically in those parts of our life that we hold back and we say, no, that's my thing, we are called to yield that to the King because there is no neutral ground.

And if we are holding on to it, it's not neutral.

But the enemy is at work in that.

Jesus is not an even worse evil, but He is a much, much greater good.

As we sing now to close our service, the songs are all chosen around the theme of the goodness of God.

And so let's come before Him now through worship.

And do you want a band come up and get ready?

Thank you.

We're going to come to Him and declare and believe together He is good.

And as we do that, as we sing and pray together, you might bring to mind those areas of your life where you are tempted to believe He is not good.

Where you're tempted to believe your way is better.

But we can bring that to Him now in worship and prayer.

There is no neutral ground.

Let me pray.

Lord Jesus, as we come before you in prayer now, we have to repent.

Repent of all the times that we have turned from you and have made ourselves king and queen of our lives in your place.

We have chosen so many times to do our own thing.

And that's only brought death to us and death to this world.

But we thank you that while we were dead in our transgressions, you made us alive when you took our death on yourself on the cross.

And you rose again in order that we might have hope and the power to change by your Holy Spirit.

So we pray, Holy Spirit, even now, as we close our service in worship, but more so this week, that you would lead us in the work that you have for us in declaring the Lordship of Jesus over all and in all.

We want to repent and believe that your way is better.

You are good.

So we pray you speak to us now.

In Jesus' name, Amen.