Series

"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 us."

[39] "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, [40] for whoever is not against us is for us. [41] I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

In Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, one man (Trinculo) who has been shipwrecked, comes upon another (Caliban) who is playing dead, lying on the ground hoping to be mistaken for a fish or a monster of some sort. When a thunderstorm starts, the first man decides to take refuge under the other’s cloak, and utters these lines: (Act 2, Scene 2)

This phrase, “strange bedfellows” has come into the English language to describe all sorts of odd alliances between unlikely partners. It is often said that politics makes strange bedfellows, because political interests can bring together people who otherwise have little in common. For example, there was the Kennedy – Johnson ticket in 1960. Lyndon Baines Johnson hated the Kennedys, John F. Kennedy in particular. The Kennedy clan didn’t like Johnson much, either. There were differences on issues, as well as culture, style, and perhaps social class too. Still, Kennedy needed a Southerner, plus someone older and viewed as more traditional to balance his youthful, progressive image on the ticket. Johnson needed “a seat at the table”, and an eventual path to the presidency. So while they differed in nearly every way, and didn’t even like or respect each other all that much, they managed to forge a team anyway, and it worked for them.

Our passage this morning is also about strange bedfellows, on the church scene. Jesus had cast demons out of many different people at this point, and the disciples themselves had had success in casting demons out of people on their short term mission trips. But then one day, the disciples saw a man who was not part of their group driving out demons, and they told him to stop. When they reported this to Jesus, He said, Mark 9:39, "Do not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, [40] for whoever is not against us is for us.”

I teach a course at CCU called Interpreting the Bible, and one of the skills I try to teach the students is to find the principle in each passage, the absolute truth that was true for the original readers, and for us as well. In this passage, I think the principle is this: those who work for some of the same goals, even if they do not belong to the same group (I’ll define that in a minute), are on the same team, on the same side in the battle for what is right. If they are not actively against you, they are for you. Don’t interfere with them, because we are working for the same things. Jesus says that no one who does a miracle in His name can turn around and say anything bad about Him; that person is on the same side. In the same way, if someone gives you a drink of water—i.e., if they do something good for you—just because you belong to Christ, that person is then considered to be on Christ’s side, and will be rewarded accordingly.

It is certainly a goal of Jesus to deliver people from demonic oppression; He did it, and He specifically commissioned His disciples to do it. So this man was working for the same goals as Jesus and His followers. Moreover, he did it in Jesus’ name.

Mark 9:38, "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 us." Who is the “us”? In their case, this man was not one of the Twelve Apostles Jesus had chosen to follow Him and learn from Him. They defined “us” very narrowly.

Many people define it narrowly today, as well. For some, the people they would include in “us” is limited to those in their local church, their little group. These groups are so narrow, they sometimes border on being cults. For others, it’s their denomination. They believe they have the truth, the correct way to interpret Scripture, and no one else does. If a person purports to be a Christian, and they don’t belong to this particular denomination, then these folks feel like they can’t trust them or work with them, and they’d like to tell them to stop, like the disciples did. A classic example was the fundamentalists who refused to cooperate with Billy Graham. They felt that he was off base in some of his views, and they were too narrow in their thinking to be able to cooperate with him in his crusades. In fact, their biggest complaint about Billy Graham was that he was not narrow enough—he worked with Catholics and liberals in his crusades, and these fundamentalists just couldn’t deal with that!

But the principle Jesus gives here suggests that they should have participated in those crusades, because Billy Graham was certainly not against them. He was working for the same goals they were—namely, to see people come to faith in Christ—so He was on the same team as they were. The fundamentalists essentially said, “We saw a man leading people to Christ, but because he was not one of us—i.e., our little group, our narrowly defined theological persuasion, because he was not as narrow as we are—we wouldn’t work with him (and we wished he would stop).”

There’s a church in town called New Freedom Church which basically ministers to the biker community. They tend to be pretty rough people, not the type of folks who would feel comfortable in our church. Their pastor has not been to seminary; their worship services are not very polished; their clothes are very different from what most of us wear; their theology may be a bit different from ours in some non-essentials. But New Freedom Church has led the way in ministering to the homeless in Loveland. Chris Perciante and some of our people went to a park in east Loveland last month, where they ate together with a number of poor and homeless folks in a very casual, friendly, setting. Chris felt like that was a terrific time of ministry in the name of Jesus, and the differences between our people and New Freedom didn’t really matter. In fact, they were better at this sort of thing than we are, and they led this whole ministry.

Others would define the “us” more broadly, but still set limits to it. They say, for example, that if a person is a “liberal”, they can’t work with them. So we have the situation where many evangelicals will not cooperate with churches from mainline denominations, because they believe those churches have strayed from biblical orthodoxy. They feel like their own witness will be compromised in some way if they work together with churches who do not believe in the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, etc. But again, we need to ask, are these people working against Jesus and His work in the world in their social efforts? We may not agree with their theology, but what about cooperating with them in the soup kitchen? Very often, these are the churches that have led the way in caring for the poor, the oppressed, the disenfranchised of our society. These are the people who have been more active in loving their neighbors as the Good Samaritan did, than we who call ourselves evangelicals and pride ourselves on our orthodox theology.

But now let’s take it a step further. What about working with people who make no Christian profession at all? What about cooperating with the non-profit organizations, or even government agencies, that are trying to do something about the social problems in our community?

Some of them, like for example, Planned Parenthood, are clearly beyond the pale. Planned Parenthood promotes abortion as a means of birth control, and this seems to me to be outside the bounds of what a Christian can tolerate or cooperate with. That organization is actually working against Jesus, because He is “for” life, and they are killing babies in a misguided attempt to help young women and girls who have an unwanted pregnancy. So if an organization or an agency takes a position and is actively working against the values of God, then I think we have to say we can’t work with them. We should tell them to “stop.” The principle of this passage doesn’t apply, because they are “against” Jesus and what He stands for.

But what if the organization doesn’t pretend to be Christian, but is doing the work that Christ would do in the world? What about them? Can we, as Christians, cooperate with them in that work? I think we can. Mark 9:40, “whoever is not against us is for us.” Take, for example, Alternatives to Violence. Domestic abuse, typically by a man against a woman and her children, is a chronic and serious problem in our community. Very often, this tragedy is repeated from one generation to another, so that boys who were abused by their fathers grow up to be abusers themselves. They often do not understand why they act this way, and they typically are extremely repentant after they beat their wife or children, but then they go right back and do it again. Without some serious intervention and intensive counseling, such a man will usually continue in that pattern.

So Alternatives to Violence[1] is committed to the intervention, education, and prevention of domestic violence. They have 24-hour on-call volunteers and staff who are trained in emotional support, victim's rights, community resources, and who assist with emergency food and clothing. They have a safe house where women with children can live while recovering from domestic violence, and they provide all sorts of counseling for each member of the family. They also work with the victims of domestic abuse as they may go through the whole courts and legal system to get help.

Alternatives to Violence does not pretend to be a Christian organization. Its website says nothing about Christianity, does not have a statement of faith, does not mention church or God. In the official sense, they are completely secular. Can we, as Christians, seeking to do God’s work in the community, cooperate with them? Well, we have to ask, are they against Christ? Do they do anything that is opposed to His values and His truth? Certainly not. In fact, they are doing the very sort of thing that Jesus would do. The Lord has compassion on those who are oppressed, He binds up the wounds of the broken hearted, He defends the weak against the wicked strong. These are all the things that Alternatives to Violence does, too. So it seems to me that if “whoever is not against us is for us,” then we can and should stand shoulder to shoulder with this organization to care for those who are victims of domestic abuse.

Another example would be the Namaqua Center. This is one of the organizations we usually give half of our Christmas Eve offering to. They provide psychological treatment to children (roughly ages 6-12) with emotional and behavioral disorders resulting from extreme neglect and abuse. Many of these children are really bad off, and no one else can do much for them. Because of their disabilities, they are rejected by a large part of our society. Through the Namaqua Center programs, children and their families receive individualized care to overcome the emotional trauma they have experienced, to develop skills required for independent living, and they learn to break the cycle of abuse.

Even though the Namaqua Center is not a Christian organization in any official sense, and it is now under the umbrella of the Larimer County Mental Health agency, they are certainly caring for children who would otherwise be neglected and rejected by virtually everyone else in our community. Jesus said, Let the little children come to me. He has a very special place in His heart for children, and anyone who is working to help children is on Jesus’ side in this matter. It’s a very difficult ministry, and not many people have the perseverance or stomach for it. Heather Brown and Suzy Golden from our church, and some other Christians, are allowed to come in to the group home and do Bible stories and crafts with the children. Is it appropriate for Christians to partner with a county agency like that? After all, the government of Larimer County isn’t Christian. Absolutely. Whoever is not against us is for us.

So the principle here seems to be that if someone is working for the same goals that Jesus is, then we can participate with them in that effort, we are on the same team. We don’t have to agree with them on everything—just the effort we are cooperating on.

But in Matthew 12, we have a somewhat similar context, and the principle Jesus gives there sounds diametrically opposed to what He said here in Mark 9.

The Pharisees heard of Jesus casting out demons (so the context is casting out demons in both cases) and they concluded that He was doing it by the power of the devil. Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said to them, v.25, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. [26] If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? [27] And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. [28] But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. [29] Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. [30] He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

In Mark 9, Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us,” and here He says, “He who is not with me is against me.” How can we reconcile these two statements?[2]

These two principles should properly be used in different ways, with different kinds of people, as Jesus did. The first is with

The context of the statement in Mark 9 is talking about someone who was a believer. The person they saw casting out demons was doing it in Jesus’ name. He was evidently a follower of Christ, a believer in Him, even though He was not part of the Twelve. So if a person is a Christian, even if they do not belong to our little group, even if they are, as the disciples said, “not one of us,” then they are for us as believers, and they are on our side. We have seen how this principle might be broadened to authorize us to cooperate even with non-Christians who are working for the goals of Christ. But for believers, especially, if they are not against us, they are for us. If they are not against Christ and His true teachings, then they are for Him.

This speaks to the whole ecumenical question: how far outside our own circle can we go in fellowshipping with others? If they are not against Jesus, if what they teach is not contrary to what He taught, then by all means we should fellowship with them.

I think that our denomination’s emphasis on the essentials and non-essentials is really helpful here. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church has wisely made a distinction between essential doctrines and non-essential ones. If another church or pastor can affirm the essentials, then we can fellowship and work cooperatively with them, in spite of our differences on the non-essentials. You know that I fellowship with a group of pastors in town, and this concept of the essentials and non-essentials has been instrumental in our unity. We come from a wide variety of theological and ecclesiastical backgrounds. There are a couple of Pentecostals, a charismatic, several independent churches, a couple of different Baptists, a Nazarene, sometimes the Evangelical Covenant is there, an Evangelical Free pastor, and me, a Presbyterian. As you might guess, we hold widely different views on some subjects. But all of these men are agreed on the points that we hold as essential, and they are certainly not teaching or working “against” Christ in any sense of the word, so they are “for Christ” and “for us” and I enjoy sweet fellowship with them.

But let me tell you about an ecumenical fellowship that was not what it appeared to be. Years ago, when I was in the mainline Presbyterian Church, I was talking with another pastor in that denomination, and somehow, we got talking about his understanding of Christ. I said, Do you believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? No. Do you believe that Jesus was God incarnate? No. Do you believe that Jesus did the miracles described in the Bible? No. Do you believe Jesus rose bodily from the dead? No. Do you believe He is coming back to rule on earth? No. Then, I said, that’s a different Jesus! We have no basis for fellowship in Christ. This man was, in fact, against Jesus in everything but name. He didn’t believe or teach the most fundamental facts of the faith. He fell into the category of people who need to hear the principle from Matthew 12.

Here, the context is with nonbelievers, the Pharisees. In this case, they were hostile Pharisees, who were openly critical of Jesus and what He was doing. In that context, Jesus says, Whoever is not with me is against me. So if a person is not yet committed to Christ—maybe they are lost-in-the-weeds pastors like that man I just told you about, or maybe they are as yet uncommitted, not-yet Christians—they need to hear Jesus say, “If you are not with me, you are against me.” You can’t sit on the fence. Not to decide for Christ is to decide against Him. Because the default position of everyone in the world is that they are opposed to Jesus.

We come into this world with a very self-centered nature. We do not naturally want to obey God; we do not naturally want to put Him first in our lives; we do not naturally believe in Him unless our parents teach us to. Jesus said in John 3:17-18, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” So if you just haven’t gotten around to putting your trust in Christ, then you are in the position of being condemned already. Your whole life is, in effect, against Him, so He is against you.

But this principle in Matthew 12 is also the one we should apply to ourselves, we who consider ourselves Christians.

Where are we with Christ? Are we trying to ride the fence? Are we hoping that just because we are not actively against Christ, that means we are OK? We may think, We’re not atheists, or militant Muslims, so we must be alright with God. But Jesus would say, No. There is no middle ground. You can’t be neutral when it comes to me. If you are not committed to me, then you are, in fact, opposed to me, even if you don’t think you are. A person who is just a nominal Christian—i.e. a Christian in name only—who maybe goes to church, and occasionally plays religious music, and might even say a rote table grace for their meal, is deceiving himself if he thinks he’s in a good place with God. Jesus calls people to radical discipleship to Himself, not just lip service, not just tolerance. If we are not actively for Him, then we are against Him. Our core values, our fundamental assumptions about life, our deepest motivations are all self-centered and not God-centered, and that puts us on the other side from Him. If we are not “with Jesus” wholeheartedly, we are against Him. You can’t sit on the fence.

I really pray that none of you are nominal Christians. It scares me to think that some of you just come to church, you sit here looking religious like everyone else, you sing the songs, you may contribute to the church, you may even read your Bible from time to time—but you may not be “with Christ” in this sense. Friends, please examine your hearts. If you have joined this church, we had an elder interview you, and he asked you questions about your relationship with Jesus. We want to know that everyone who joins the church has a saving relationship with Christ. But we can’t see your hearts. We do our best, but it’s possible—I would even say likely—that some of you have slipped through the net, you knew the words to say, you gave what we thought was a credible profession of faith, but you really do not know Christ.

At the end of our service, we are going to have our Prayer Ministry Team come up and stand here in the front to pray with anyone for any matter at all. If you are not absolutely convinced that you are “with Jesus”, if there is any chance at all that you are sitting on the fence, or that you have not yet fully committed yourself to Him, that would be a good time to come up and pray with someone about that.

[1] http://www.alternativestoviolence.org/index.html

[2] There is a difference in the pronouns He uses, but that may not be important. In Matthew 12, He uses the singular “me”, and in Mark 9 He says “us”. But in Mark 9:39, He says, "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me.” So He shows that being for “us” in this context is the same as being for Him.