Outsiders Aren’t All Bad

Luke 9:49-50

          I have a tendency to view things in black and white. I don’t like any grey to mess things up. I try to live by the KISS theory, Keep It Simple Stupid. After all, Jesus didn’t have any problem teaching in black and white. There were right and wrong, good and evil, believers and nonbelievers, and you were either for Him or against Him. That all seems pretty straight forward does it not?

          That is until we come across a passage such as the one we will look at today. In the passage preceding our lesson today, some of the disciples had been arguing over which of them “was the greatest.” Jesus used a child to show His followers that in the kingdom of God, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great”

          The point Jesus was making was that the child was as great as they were and that they should be more concerned about serving others than comparing themselves to each other. It was because of this teaching that John spoke up. Perhaps he was feeling guilty about how he and some of the other disciples had treated a man that was not a part of the “inner circle”.

          Turn with me if you will to Luke 9 verses 49, 50.

            John answered, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you."

            Now that sounds black and white, until you really think about what Jesus is saying. “…the one who is not against you is for you.”  For some reason there seems to be some grey in those words.

          The disciples viewed this man as competition and wanted to get rid of him. In fact they had tried themselves but to no avail. “We tried to stop him,” John said, implying that they had indeed failed. The man was obviously very passionate about his ministry and was not about to let anyone hold him back.

          Not only was he passionate about what he was doing but it appears that he was quit successful at it. “Master, we saw someone casting out demons…” The nerve of him the disciples must have thought, he can’t do that unless he is part of the group. We must do something about it!

          There were a couple of other guys you may remember hearing about, that got themselves into the same kind of situation that this man did. Way back when Moses was looking after things while Israel was taking a 40 year hike through the desert, God told Moses to get some help for himself by appointing some elders to assist him.

          So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."  ²⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.                                                                                                                                                 Num.11:24-30

          The disciples were in pretty good company when they tried stopping the man. Joshua, the fearless leader that lead Israel into the promised land, could not stand for outsiders to be given a special gift from God. Jesus could have very well asked the same question Moses did, “Are you jealous for my sake?” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. If he’s not against you, he must be for you. If he is not harming me or my ministry, leave him alone! What’s wrong with you guys, have you not listened to anything I’ve taught you?

          Now don’t go looking for that last part in your bible because it’s not there. But that certainly seems to be what our Lord is conveying. Even though the man was an outsider, Jesus said that he should be allowed to continue his ministry. Why would Jesus say that and what are we to learn from it? He was giving us the test that we are to use when dealing with outsiders and we have a perfect example from our culture today.

          Last month in Washington DC the Family Research Council sponsored the Values Voter Summit. Each Republican candidate was given the opportunity to express there beliefs, religious views, and political platform before 2000 evangelical and conservative voters. One candidate received more media attention than all the others because he was considered an outsider to those gathered to hear him.

          Mitt Romney is a member of The Latter Day Saints, the Mormons. No evangelical denomination considers Mormonism a part of Christianity because of their rejection of the Trinity. They have, since their inception, been considered a cult and outside the boundaries of Christ’s church. What is interesting is the reaction that Mitt has brought about because of his religion.

          Mr. Romney is arguably the most conservative candidate on the roster when it comes to moral and ethical issues. These are the issues that are nearest and dearest to the hearts of Evangelical Christians. The sanctity of human life and marriage between a man and a woman top the list. For some it doesn’t matter what he believes, it only matters what he is.

          But what happens when we put Mitt to the test? If he is not against Christ and His church, does that mean he is for it? Does he not profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ even though he has a flawed understanding of the person of Christ? Some would say absolutely not. The greatest fear of some evangelical leaders is that a Mormon President would bring the LDS into the spotlight and draw naïve Christians and unbelievers into the Mormon fold.

          First of all, that doesn’t say much for the level of theological teaching in today’s church and second, the bottom line is that God is the one who calls the elect to Himself and can call anyone out of the LDS that He wants to. What is missing in this whole issue is the sovereignty of God   

          Let’s go back to the text for a minute because I think I may have left something out. "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you."

          This man was not a follower of Jesus, yet he was casting out demons in Jesus name. Who gave him the authority to do that? It doesn’t appear that Jesus did, but God blessed his efforts anyway. Why? Because even though he was not a follower of Jesus Christ, he knew exactly who Jesus was and believed that God would work through him. This man had no doubt heard the gospel preached and responded to it. He may not have been in the inner circle but he was most certainly a follower of Jesus Christ.

          Let’s contrast this to the story of the sons of Sceva found in Acts 19.  Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus, whom Paul proclaims." Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Acts 19:13-16   

          That sends shivers up my spine just thinking about it. “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” Wham! Invoking the name of Jesus is serious stuff. Misusing the name of Jesus carries severe consequences. How we can be sure that the intentions of this mans heart were founded in love and not pride, Jesus honored his ministry.

          St Paul also touched on this subject in his letter to the Philippians;

“And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,…” Philippians 1:14-18   

          Paul could see the good in everything, couldn’t he? It didn’t matter to him what the intentions of his rivals were, as long as people were hearing and talking about Jesus. So what if he was in prison. If that is what gave courage to others, so be it. If his enemies used it to unknowingly spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, halleluiah.

          If St. Paul didn’t get upset about outsiders furthering the kingdom of God, why should we? “…the one who is not against you is for you.”   

          There is an awful lot of anti-Christian sentiment that we have to deal with in this country today. The hypocrisy of those who claim to be Christian but do not hold to a biblical worldview, will eventually be brought to light, if not in this world, then the next. Christ will look after that.

          There are a lot of things we are not allowed to do in Jesus name today. High schools can’t ask for the safety of there athletes in Jesus name. Graduates can’t publicly thank their creator for His blessings in Jesus name. Prayer in Jesus name is being forced out of the public square. And Jesus’ name is being removed from our history books by revisionists, all this to accommodate Secular Humanists and not offend non-Christians.   

          Our responsibility is to discern the intentions of the outsider by asking the question “Is this person for Christ or against Christ? If they are not against us then they are for us. If they are hostile towards the Lord, then they are against us. Both of these groups have one thing in common; they are in need of the salvation that can only come through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

          Outsiders aren’t all bad, but they are all lost. Millions of Mormons aren’t all bad, but they are all wrong. The same goes for Jehovah’s Witnesses, they are not all bad, but they are all wrong. They are not the enemy; they have been deceived by the enemy. They need to hear the truth and they need to respond to it. When they do, they will be welcomed into the community of believers just like the man in today’s passage was I’m sure.

           Unfortunately, things aren’t always black and white. But as Christians we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us through the grey areas. There is a world full of outsiders sitting on the fence, not knowing which side to jump on. You are the salt of the world; give them a taste of what life can be like in Christ. Help them find the way and remember, outsiders aren’t all bad, but they are all lost.