It is not intolerant to expose an oppose error. If a newspaper
prints an article naming you as a spokesman for the Ku Kulx Klan it
would not be intolerant for you to write them and tell them of their
error. Likewise, if a man preaches that God’s Word teaches a man
can be saved by works, it is not intolerant to tell him of his error,
and that it is by the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
alone that we are saved. It would be the worst of all possible worlds
if toleration meant that truth is to give way to error without
resistance.
This would lead to sheer indifference in which there would be
no distinction between truth and error, and all would be completely
relative. Some people are very tolerant just because the truth
means nothing to them, and so they have nothing to defend. This
can never be true of a believer in Christ, for in Him there is very
definite truth and right in contrast to error and wrong. The
problem that a believer faces in relation to error is two fold. First
of all he is in danger of sinning in his opposition to evil if he uses evil
means to do so. The Christian must be intolerant of evil in himself
as well as others. He must refuse to employ bad manners and false
logic in his fight against evil. Paul said, “Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome evil with good.” If we use evil means to overcome
evil, we are in the camp of error whatever be our end.
The second danger of a believer in opposition to error is that he
tends to think that he has the whole truth, and, therefore, anyone
who does not see truth just as he does is in error. This is where the
vast majority of sinful intolerance enters into the Christian life.
Tolerance does not mean we accept error, but it does mean we
accept that there are more aspects of truth than that which we
know. Not to admit this is to claim omniscience. William Gladstone
defined tolerance in a way that a Christian must understand it. He
said, “Tolerance means reverence for all the possibilities of truth; it
means the acknowledgment that she dwells in diverse mansions, and
wears vestures of many colors, and speaks in strange tongues..”
It is interesting that we find the Apostles falling into both of these
dangers and becoming intolerant in a non-Christian way. As to the
first danger of using evil means to oppose evil, you recall how the
sons of thunder wanted evil men to be destroyed immediately, and
also how Peter wanted to fight with a sword those who came to
capture Jesus. They were all rebuked by Jesus for their willingness
to use such force against others. Paul understood that our weapons
are not to be carnal but spiritual. If the truth is attacked with
bitterness, hate and violent language, we are not to respond with the
same evil weapons. The disciples had not yet learned this.
Newman Smith was the author of a widely used book, “Come To
Jesus.” Later in a controversy with Robert Hall, the famous Baptist
author, he wrote a bitter pamphlet. He did not know what to title it,
and so he asked a friend for suggestions. His friend read the fierce
pamphlet and said he would call it, “Go To Hell By The Author Of
Come To Jesus.” The inconsistency made him see how obvious it was
that he was not displaying a Christian attitude. Our text is an
example of how the Apostles were also being intolerant by limiting
truth to their own group, and it is this kind of intolerance we want to
examine. We saw how the disciples were defective because of
ignorance, and now we want to see how they were-
DEFECTIVE BECAUSE OF INTOLERANCE.
John’s conscience was apparently bothered by what Jesus had
just taught. He had just said that the least is greatest, and it made
Him think of a man who was casting out demons that He had
stopped because he thought he was not worthy, for he did not follow
them. In other words, he was, in their minds, unqualified and
unimportant. He was the least. The disciples were under the
impression that they had a monopoly on God’s power, and so they
forbid this man to carry on in his service to others in the name of
Christ.
Many commentators agree that John feels a sense of guilt about
this incident after what Jesus has said about the greatness of one
who receives even a child in His name. The man they had stopped
was aiding people in distress in the name of Christ, and now John
wonders if they did act to hasty in forbidding him. He brings it out
into the open to get an answer. It might never have been answered
if Jesus had not made his conscience sensitive by revealing his pride.
Pride is what started them arguing in the first place about greatness,
and pride was the cause for their hindering a man who was doing
good in the name of Christ. Imagine this, of all people to oppose the
work of Christ we have the very Apostles themselves.
This has an important lesson for us. Let us never assume that
because a man is a Christian that all he stands for or against is the
will of God. If pride and a sense of exclusiveness and spiritual
privilege could lead the Apostles to go wrong, it is not only likely,
but inevitable that the same will be true of all of us. None of us are
beyond being intolerant and even bigoted because of pride. There
are so many who do not dot their I’s and cross their t’s as we do,
and it is so easy to feel that this is more important than serving
Christ. It had to be pride that blinded the disciples, for what other
cause could their be for stopping any good work being done in the
name of Christ?
There was likely some jealously mixed with pride also, for the
disciples had just failed in being able to cast out a demon in a young
boy. Their weakness in contrast to this man’s power would cause
them to be jealous, and the best defense of the ego is to stop the
success of others so that your own failure does not stand out. What
would it look like, and what kind of reputation would we get if some
stranger, who does not even follow us, has more power than we do as
the disciples of Jesus? They wanted God to only work through them
so they alone would get the credit. There are parallels of this today.
Christians want to forbid people to be involved with ministries that
are not connected with their denomination. They are often like
Job’s friends who felt that we are the people, and wisdom will die
with us. It could well be that we are guilty of sinful intolerance. No
one has a copyright on the name of Christ, and so just because
people do not follow us does not mean they do not follow Christ.
Jesus said to John that he should not forbid that man, for he
that is not against us is for us. If the man had been opposing the
truth then it would not be intolerant to forbid him, for then it would
be a valid defense of the truth to do so. Since he was doing what was
consistent with what you are doing in casting out demons, you did
wrong to forbid him. Van Doren said, “True love approves good,
whensoever, and by whomsoever, done.” The disciples were
defective at this point, for they hindered good just because the man
was not a part of their group.
Jesus did not say that that man was saved. He just said that He
was not against them. He may have been saved, but the point is,
even if he was not, he was not to be stopped from doing good. Jesus
taught in Matt. 7:22 that there would be those in the day of
judgment who would be rejected even though they had done many
mighty works and cast out demons. Jesus will judge them, but
meanwhile, even they are not to be opposed if they do good. Jesus is
trying to impress on us that we never advance the cause of Christ by
hindering the good work of any man. If a group of atheists were
doing a good service to people, we would be out of God’s will if we
tried to stop it. Let all who do not oppose the Gospel do all the good
they can, and encourage them to do so, for they can do much for the
cause of Christ indirectly, even if they are ultimately lost. Many
unsaved people do much good, and we are not to oppose it.
One of the best illustrations of how we ought to be in this area is
found in Acts 18. We read there of how Apollos began to preach the
Gospel. He had not yet completely understood all that he should
about the New Testament. Priscilla and Aquilla did not condemn
him for his shortcomings, but they took him aside and expounded to
him the way of God more perfectly. This is the only attitude worthy
of a Christian. If you see a man serving Christ in any capacity, even
though he is doing it with inadequate theology, or an inadequate
attitude, do not hinder, but help. Complete his understanding and
encourage him.
If more believers in the history of the church had been like
Priscilla and Aquilla, there would be far more to be proud of, and
far less to be ashamed of in Christian history. Men have repeated
the same mistake as the disciples over and over again. They have
wasted their powers in fighting with those going in the same
direction rather than using their combined forces to oppose evil.
The history of the Baptists and Methodists on the early American
frontier is filled with rivalry.
A young Methodist pastor was called on to conduct the funeral of a
Baptist person. He was not sure what to do, and so he wrote to his
Bishop for instruction. The Bishop wrote back, “Bury all the
Baptists you can.” This sounds like a joke, but the fact is there was
serious opposition between these two groups, and they fought in
earnest. James H. Addison said in all seriousness that in one area
Methodists were gaining strength and now-“The combined powers
of the Baptist and the devil will be unavailing towards shaking the
fabric thus reared.”
In spite of the defects of the disciples being openly rebuked for
the benefit for all succeeding generations, and in spite of Paul’s
admission that even he only saw in part, men have had the audacity
and the pride to demand that all who do not follow them are wrong
and should be stopped. J. C. Ryle wrote, “Thousands, in every
period of church history have spent their lives in copying John’s
mistake. They have labored to stop every man who will hot work for
Christ in their way, from working for Christ at all. They have
imagined, in their petty self-conceit, that no man can be a soldier of
Christ, unless he wears their uniform, and fights in their regiment.”
In the light of both the Bible and church history we re forced to
admit that all of us are in danger of displaying the same defect of
intolerance as did the disciples. May God grant us the wisdom to see
this danger and refuse to let it guide our lives and attitudes. Let us
listen to our Lord and follow His spirit and avoid all the foolishness
we see in Apostolic Intolerance.
