The man was in horrible shape when Jesus met up with him. He terrorized the region he lived in. The towns people didn't know what to do with him so they tried chains and shackles. When that didn't work, they just put him out in the tombs.

Who could blame them? A "legion" was thousands of soldiers. Even if the demon was bragging when he called himself Legion, that is a lot of demons. This man created some major havoc. The region of Gerasenes was fairly sophisticated, and this guy was really causing trouble. Most tourism brochures are not filled with "Come see our demon possessed man." All they wanted was life to be back to normal so that their region would be safe again.

But one thing we learn from this story is that transformation does not come from binding.

We may have good intentions, but in the end, nothing happens. It may look good for a while, but no transformation takes place.

The solution is much more simple, but that doesn't make it easy.

So far in this transformed series, we've seen...

• Through Isaiah's life that good isn't good enough.
• Through Matthew's life that bad is never too bad.
• Through the Rich Young Ruler that following outward commands isn't being transformed.
• Through the Sinful Woman that we are transformed for the worship of God.
• Through Paul that we are transformed so God's mission becomes our mission.

Another aspect of a transformed life is our transformed story. 

Our lives are transformed so that we can have a transformed story so people will be amazed. 

We're going to look at a wild story from Jesus' life where he transformed a guy filled with a legion of demons. Instead of having the healed guy follow, Jesus had him stay at home and tell people his transformed story.

Saul's future impact is so strong that I can write this and you can read it in large part due to the work of Saul to advance God's kingdom to the Greco-Roman world.

God gave the broad strokes of the rest of Saul's story to Ananias...

"Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name!"

Saul, who we no know as Paul, was the missionary to the Gentiles. He stood before kings. He had such a passion for Israel, that he would rather go to hell if that mean his people would know Christ. He suffered perhaps more than anyone besides Jesus. 

His impact continues and will continue for all eternity. Why? Because his mission transformed.

Paul's mission began as going into all the world to end Christianity. God got Paul's attention in a big way. Paul required Ananias and Barnabas to come alongside to complete the transformation. And then Paul intentionally lived his life constantly on God's mission to take the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. 

A complete turnaround.

Paul suffered for the name of Christ, but this was his greatest joy. He was imprisoned for the Gospel, but in one of his letters, he seemed to be okay with that because it meant that the guards heard the Gospel.

This may seem like such a contradiction, that the greatest suffering brings the greatest joy. There are no words I can say to get you to believe that truth. This is something that can only overflow from a heart that only finds joy in Christ and the advancement of his Gospel. 

Man, I am so far from that point. I pray that this attitude grows in me. I pray the same for you.

God got Saul's attention, but Saul needed other people to help the transformation take root. He needed people to look out for him. He needed wing men. 

First was Ananias.

Imagine being Ananias. You're in your house, sitting down for a ham sandwich and to watch the football game. Then Jesus shows up in a vision to get your attention. His message?

Go find the guy who was on the way to kill you and befriend him.

We can over-spiritualize and say, "I'd go right away." Ananias was like...

Um, God. Sorry to argue, but this is the guy who is on the way here to kill people and you want me to go to him and pray for him and place my hands on him? If you want me killed, can't you just send a lightening bolt.

Okay, so I took some translative privileges. My point is imagine being Ananias receiving this call from God. That must have been a long walk to go meet with Saul. But Ananias obeyed. Saul regained his sight and immediately started astounding and confounding people with the message of Christ.

Second was Barnabas. 

Barnabas was in Jerusalem. Saul came back to Jerusalem a transformed man, but the Christians didn't want anything to do with him. Barnabas stuck up for Saul. He explained that God really had transformed him. That he was preaching boldly for Christ.

If it wasn't for those guys, you could argue that Saul's transformation couldn't have taken root like it did.

Who can you take under your wing to help them continue to grow into who Christ wants them to be?

Who do you need to surround you with to help you grow into who Christ wants you to be?

Both relationships are vital in seeing our mission transform into God's mission. 

Because Saul was thinking he was doing God a favor and he was so deep into his behavior, God had to get Saul's attention in a big way.

A light from heaven flashed all around him. Jesus, who had been dead, resurrected and ascended to heaven for several years, began to talk to him. And Saul went blind--ultimately for three days.

This ordinary day ended not so ordinary.

For our mission to be transformed into God's mission, it must take something that isn't quite ordinary. God must get our attention.

What is going on in your life right now that God could use to end up adjusting your course to align you with his mission?

This could be big like a crisis. 
This could be small like going to church.

Really, that is what the church gathering is supposed to be about. You gather with other believers to receive teaching that is mission adjustments. Reminders that it isn't about us, it is about us aligning with God's mission. 

Saul's mission radically transformed from going to the ends of the earth to kill Christians to going to the ends of the earth to make Christians.

God got his attention, but Saul required help to see the transformation take root.

If God had a top ten most wanted list, Saul had to be on it.

It may be a little hard for you to think that God has a top ten most wanted list; so why would I think that? Try this evidence...

Saul's mission in life was to go to the ends of the earth to imprison and kill Christians. The first time we see Saul is when Stephen, the first Christian killed for his faith, was stoned and Saul oversaw the stoning.

The second time we see Saul in Acts, it reads that Saul was breathing threats and had received permission to go to Damascus to imprison more Christians. Any Christian he can find. He was equal opportunity offender because he would imprison men and women. Saul even thought he was doing God a favor.

Nice guy.

Saul was so bad that even after he was transformed, Christians thought his transformation was not possible. They didn't want to be associated with him in case he was a double agent.

Now, we think of Paul, the person who gets more Bible face time than anyone else besides Jesus. We don't think of Saul, the person who would like nothing more than to exterminate Christianity by exterminating Christians.

But, as always, God got his man.

So far in this transformed series, we've seen...

• Through Isaiah's life that good isn't good enough.
• Through Matthew's life that bad is never too bad.
• Through the Rich Young Ruler that following outward commands isn't being transformed.
• Through the Sinful Woman that we are transformed for the worship of God.

Now, we're going to take another look into why we are transformed.

We are transformed so God's mission becomes our mission.

Our focal story is a guy who's mission transformed more than anybody else's. Most of the time, we view this guy in his transformed life (which is good), but we forget how far away he was from God and how much he was transformed. 

In fact, he was so bad, he was on God's top ten most wanted list.

From this woman's life, what was extravagant worship?

• It was culturally appropriate. She didn't do anything that wasn't a part of her culture. A host was supposed to honor a guest by washing their feet, giving them a kiss and anointing their head with oil. The Pharisee did none of these. The woman, who wasn't even the host, did all three.
• It was lavish. She was culturally appropriate, but she was lavish in her display. She washed her feet with her tears as the water and hair as the towel. She kissed his feet. She anointed his feet, not his head.

She worshiped Jesus, but it was almost as if she was saying, "I'm not even worthy to worship you, so I'll just do this to your feet, not your head."

The Pharisee thought he was worthy of God's blessing. The woman knew she wasn't.

Which are you in this story?

It is always easy to identify with the "good guy" in stories like this. "Yeah," we say, "I'm more like the woman." But really, I'm more like the Pharisee. I struggle with...

What would people think?
I can't afford it.
I want to be appropriate, but not lavish.

So what does culturally appropriate but lavish worship mean today?

I think it means more than lifting your hands during a song. Let's ask a little different question...

What resources do we have that we can give lavishly to the service of God and people?

Time
Money
Our gifts
Our story

Singing a song is barely worship. Raising our hands doesn't require much of a living sacrifice. Using our time, money, gifts and story is.

That is extravagant worship. Will you join me in learning what it means to live a life of transformed worship?

In church world, we have ended up defining worship as a song service. We say things like, "The worship was good today," "I was really able to worship," or "I didn't enjoy the worship today." Our engagement of worship becomes how well a worship minister or praise team engages what we like through song.

While us singing to/about God certainly is (or can be) worship, actually singing is only the tip of the iceberg.

The woman we've looked at this week never sang to Jesus. She was crying way too much to sing. But I don't think anyone would look at this story and wonder if she actually worshiped Jesus or not.

So if faith leads to salvation, salvation to transformation, and transformation to action, what is worship?

Worship is the action that comes from our faith.

Let's go to another portion of scripture to help define worship.

Therefore, brothers [and sisters], by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1

Our worship is tied up in how well we are a living sacrifice.

Was the woman in our story a living sacrifice? Absolutely. She sacrificed...

• Her image. Not that she had a good one anyway, but people would get a whole different image of her for doing this.
• Societal position. Not that she had a good one anyway, but if she was transformed, she had a chance to become "normal" in their society again. However, this type of action would completely kill any chance she had of becoming "normal." 
• Finances. Not that she made a lot of money, but the perfume she used to anoint Jesus was probably very expensive, especially for her. Plus, if her sin was the act of getting men to be interested in her, then this perfume could have represented how she got income.

So, the question isn't our enjoyment of 4 songs and a sermon. The question is...

How has God's transformation of my life lead to me being a living sacrifice?

Their actions proved where their faith was placed.

The Pharisee did nothing that was customary for the day to honor a guest. The Pharisee talked down about the woman. The Pharisee talked down about Jesus.

The sinful woman did what was customary for the day to honor a guest--but did it to an uncomfortable extreme. The sinful woman knew Jesus did something inside of her; so she had to do something to honor the One who created that change. The sinful woman knew that she had nothing to do with that transformation; so she was willing for anyone to see what she was doing.

Why were her actions so over the top?

Because she knew her sins were great, and now they were gone. She knew it. Jesus knew it, but the Pharisee had no clue. All he could see was her past.

Why?

The Pharisee was the only one to add the tag "sinful" to "woman."

Pharisee: "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him--she's a sinner!"

Jesus: "Do you see this woman [just woman, no adjective]?...Her many sins have been forgiven. That's why she loved much."

Jesus was very clear.

• She was sinful.
• He alone forgives and cleanses sin. We cannot do any action to guarantee or expedite or complete his forgiveness.
• Those who know they are forgiven from a lot will love a lot.

In other words...

Those who know they are transformed and know Who transformed them will worship extravagantly.