If There for Us There Not Agains Us
Complete the well known saying, "Whoever is non …." Mark 938 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a human being driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not ane of u.s.." Jealousy, intolerance and even sectarianism tin can still be strong temptations today, especially when nosotros are convinced that we accept got things right and other people have got things wrong. But Jesus rebukes his disciples for their intolerance. Whoever is not against us is for us. I am going to talk more about the question of working with other churches this evening. God calls usa to exist Never Judging – Always Discerning. Simply I believe the Bible teaches u.s. that nosotros should be inclusive, non sectional, welcoming and not judgmental. Whoever is not against united states is for united states of america!
Most people know the respond to that question. "Whoever is not for u.s. is confronting us!" All kinds of famous people have used that maxim in their speeches. From Lenin and Mussolini to George Orwell to George West. Bush and Hillary Clinton.
"Whoever is not for us is confronting united states of america!" In Beauty and the Beast, Gaston tells the villagers, "If you lot're not with the states, you're against u.s." before he locks up Belle and her father and leads the mob to hunt the Beast. And at the end of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader tells Obi-Wan Kenobi, "If yous're non with me, then you lot're my enemy."
And Jesus did say something like that. In Matthew 12: thirty Jesus said, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." The context is the parable of the Binding of the Strong Man. Jesus is defending his ministry of delivering people from demons. Anybody who is not continuing with Jesus against the powers of evil stands in opposition to Jesus and His proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
Anybody who is not with me is against me. This has been used as the rallying cry of and then many causes, both good and evil. If you aren't function of the solution then you are part of the problem. Everyone who is non for us is confronting united states of america!
That proverb appears in the parallel passages in both Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel. But we are looking at Mark's Gospel and information technology is fascinating to note that Mark does not record Jesus proverb, "He who is not with me is confronting me." Instead and at a different place in the narrative Marking includes this.
39 "Practise not stop him," Jesus said. "No 1 who does a miracle in my proper name tin can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for the states. 41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives y'all a cup of water in my name because you vest to Christ volition certainly not lose his reward.
"Whoever is non against u.s.a. is for u.s.a.." A proverb meaning completely the contrary. An mental attitude which is inclusive not exclusive. Embracing, not rejecting. Whoever is not against us is for us," Jesus says.
Some churches and some Christians live their lives by the showtime saying, "Whoever is non with united states of america is against u.s.a.." Very sadly, some churches are narrow minded and inflexible. Some churches are very exclusive and even closed to Christians of other denominations and traditions. They have a fortress mentality, determined at all costs to go along the church holy and to keep the world out. Some Christians will only have fellowship and piece of work and witness with other Christians who are just the same every bit them. If you don't believe exactly the same as us, if you don't do things just the way nosotros exercise them, if yous aren't with us in every fashion, then y'all must exist against us.
That kind of sectional attitude crept into the Early Church very presently when God began to save people who were not Jews but were instead Gentiles. Christians who had been built-in Jews began to say that Christians who had not been born Jews needed to go Jews earlier they could go Christians. They became known as the "Circumcision Party". In essence these Jewish Christians were maxim, everybody has to become like us if they are going to be saved. If you aren't with us, yous are against usa. These Jewish Christians were so powerful that the church building began to split into to two groups which wouldn't even consume together or take communion together. And the Circumcision Party was and then influential that fifty-fifty the apostle Peter and Paul's companion Barnabas were deceived by their instruction. And then nosotros read in Galatians 2 how the apostle Paul challenged Peter over this matter.
Galatians 2:eleven-xiv eleven When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, considering he was conspicuously in the wrong. 12 Earlier certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to depict dorsum and split up himself from the Gentiles because he was agape of those who belonged to the circumcision grouping. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, and then that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
fourteen When I saw that they were not interim in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front end of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, and then, that yous force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
The truth is that in Christ in that location is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free man, no male or female, but we are all one in Christ Jesus. It was wrong for those Jewish Christians to expect Gentile Christians to become Jews or follow Jewish Christians. Merely there was a very early case of churches saying to others, you have to become exactly like us. If you lot aren't for u.s. y'all are confronting us. And sadly nosotros still run into some Christians and some churches making the aforementioned mistakes today.
Mark 9:40 shows us the opposite. Jesus says, "Whoever is not against united states is for united states!" Jesus was saying to His disciples, just considering somebody doesn't vest to "your group", don't dismiss them or reject them. They can still be doing God'south work.
38 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of usa."
39 "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name tin can in the side by side moment say anything bad well-nigh me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for united states. 41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives y'all a cup of h2o in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly non lose his reward.
It didn't affair which group this man belonged to. What matters, Jesus says, is that this other person was driving out demons in the proper name of Jesus. He was working miracles in the proper noun of Jesus. And anything done in the proper noun of Jesus brings glory to Jesus, fifty-fifty something as simple every bit giving somebody a potable of water. Whether the person belongs to our group or somebody else'southward group or nobody's group at all doesn't matter one bit.
That kind of divisiveness and party-spirit grew up in the Early Church and the apostle Paul had to claiming the Corinthians for it.
1 Corinthians 3. iii You lot are withal worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5 What, afterwards all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made information technology grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
That is the mental attitude we should accept towards other Christian churches – if they are not confronting united states of america then they are for us! There are things which Christians in other denominations believe which I am convinced are wrong. I don't need to list such things – you will know what they might be. There are forms of worship and expressions of prayer used in other denominations which give me crusade for concern. Another denominations organise themselves in ways which I will e'er be uncomfortable with. But equally long as they are worshipping and serving in Christ's name, it is not for me to judge.
That is the attitude each of united states of america every bit Christians should accept to others. And peculiarly that is the attitude we should have as a church towards the new friends God is bringing to us week by week.
Some churches check out new people to make certain they will fit in, that they are exactly the aforementioned as u.s.. But that is completely the wrong attitude. Nosotros should keep in listen the words of Jesus. "Whoever is not against united states of america is for us." Nosotros should never exist defensive or sectional. We should always be welcoming and accepting and affirming. Nosotros are becoming a church of all ages, from almost a dozen different countries with all kinds of backgrounds and experiences and vocations, and I would be hard pressed to say what "our kind of people" would be. But we must never go a church building reserved for "our kind of people"
"Whoever is not against us is for us." Did you detect what Jesus said just before and only after this maxim.
Mark 9 36 He took a little child and had him stand up amongst them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the 1 who sent me."
We must be a church which goes out of our style to welcomes the little children. The vulnerable, the weak, the poor and the marginalised. The widows and the orphans and the strangers and the refugees and the outcasts. These are the kinds of people God cares nearly and nosotros should care for them too. And and then Jesus goes on to way,
42 "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to exist thrown into the body of water with a large millstone tied around his neck.
We are commanded not but to welcome "little ones" just also to care for them and make absolutely sure we practise non cause anyone to stumble. And at that place is no easier way to cause children or vulnerable people or new Christians to stumble than to make them feel excluded, y'all aren't one of us, you lot are different from the states. You aren't 100% for us – you must be against us.
Do you lot remember what information technology was like growing up playing musical chairs? You remember how dreadful information technology felt being the odd one out – the 1 left continuing while everybody else was comfortably and safely on their chairs. For some folk new to a church building, everything must seem similar a game of musical chairs, trying hard to fit in and never to be the odd ane out. Nosotros must exercise everything we tin can to help new friends feel welcome and at abode. Jesus teaches u.s.a. to welcome people as He welcomes them. Whoever is not confronting us is for u.s.a..
Source: http://pbthomas.com/blog/?p=188
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