Sermon: Mark 9:38-50. In Jesus’ Name
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."
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.
42 "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
"’their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
49 Everyone will be salted with fire.
50 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."
Believing in God vs. Believing God
information vs. intimacy,
mere recognition vs. real relationship-
Romans 4:3 “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Do you just know things about your spouse or do you trust them? The intimacy makes the relationship
even the demons vs. a life lived into God-
“you don’t accidentally trip and fall into God”- merely recognizing that God is there for you is not faith- faith is intentionally falling into God
NOT- who is in our "church clique"- NOT us and them, About- God with us
This is both warning and encouragement
But- there is something here about cults- there are groups who use the name of Jesus to attract followers but then they deny all sorts of stuff or add all kinds of things
check it out:
Matt 12:30-32
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Professional Christian or Amateur? V. 39-40 Christianity is not a profession, it is a way of life- it is available to all who just to enter into Christ Jesus
In his book Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes:
“There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start paying him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully.”
We often choose the problems we know over the potential we haven’t experienced- rather than changing anything that might result in new problems and challenges. Disciples didn’t Know these other people who were healing people in Jesus’ name, they told they people to stop because they didn’t know them. Churches do this all the time- they say, “why don’t they come to us?” Rather than look out into the world and see how God is at work.
Families do this- you look out and say “I wish we had a marriage like them” or “we’ll never be a happy family”- I have even heard of people make fun of healthy families- Just like the disciples sometimes we judge those we envy- rather than asking them to join us or come along side us.
We do this at work and school- envying others success
It’s a terrible leadership strategy.
Think of the disciples options that they could have done, besides shutting down these other disciples who were healing in Jesus name:
1. Come along side us
2. Learn with us
3. Teach us
One does something for the professing of as a career- and one does it for the love of it. There should be no professional Christians. There may be, like a pastor, who is paid for certain responsibilities and duties- but faith is not limited to the trained or the paid
We believe in the Priesthood of all believers- Anyone can believe God and have a relationship
All who trust their life to Christ are gifted and sent to serve and if so led will also lead others to healing.
Water and Dynamite- Humble and Powerful-
Not all of life is flashy and sometimes you need to blow something up
God honors the attitude of our heart more than the measurements of our deeds
The teenager lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. After a fruitless search, he went inside and told his mother the lens was nowhere to be found.
Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes, returned with the lens in her hand.
"How did you manage to find it, Mom?" the teenager asked.
"We weren’t looking for the same thing," she replied. "You were looking for a small piece of plastic. I was looking for $150."- Things can be seen differently- Jesus looks at our little acts and sees great value.
v. 41- the cup of cool water reality. What does God see in my life?
A: The real value and real potential- Kingdom Potential
Bigger is not always better- Loud is not always good- A quiet person, a simple deed can be life giving
Sometimes we wonder did that thing I did really do any good? Maybe no one noticed
God notices our good deeds
In my bookstore one time a woman came in and quietly spent the morning reading and drinking coffee. She didn’t buy anything, she didn’t ask any questions. As she was leaving the woman began to cry. She said, "Thank you for this place of peace"- But she didn’t know that some Christians had had a lot of fights in that bookstore, just very recently. One threatened to shut the place down. But to me, with that woman standing there, all the work and conflict was worth it- it hadn’t been a place of peace- but God could see its potential- God didn’t believe fighting was the end of the story for us. God knew we could be a place of peace for others- if we just lived into God’s reality and got out of our own way.
We can’t say that our faithful acts of service don’t matter- and we shouldn’t judge other’s acts done in Christ’s name- big or small. We should view it all with God’s eyes- and say “How great is our God”!
sometimes we get thanks- sometimes we don’t but God has called us to be His salt and God is with us.
Amen.
