Mark 9:38-41--Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us

Mark 9:38-41
English Standard Version
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Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

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We normally like to think like John that anyone who is not with us is against us, but Jesus doesn't say that here.  No, He says that anyone not against us is for us.  How strange, but we see this at play with the apostle Paul as well when there were "super apostles" who were trying to preach the gospel for their own benefit.  The Church wrote Paul about this thinking that he would be angry about that, but he is happy that the gospel is being preached, even if their motives were wrong in doing so.

This passage doesn't say that everyone who performs miracles in the Lord's name should automatically be accepted as a brother.  We know there are "many" in Matthew 7 who will call Him "Lord, Lord" and list all the things they have done in His name as the reason why they think they should be saved, and He'll say to them on the day of judgment, "I never knew you."  So, Jesus will take care of separating the sheep from the goats.  That's not so much our responsibility (though we want to warn our friends, family members and others we have influence over to stay away from cults and false prophets when we see them going that way).

Jesus says that anyone who truly does something in the name of the Lord should hopefully have a change in heart soon after, as this is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working within that person.  Then Jesus says that it need not even be something great like healing, preaching and teaching for God to see what was done in the name of Jesus and reward us.  Something as simple as giving a cup of cold water in His name is something that will not go without reward in the coming kingdom of God.  The "little things" that we do every day for those who can't offer us anything in return, and we do it just because it's what Jesus would have us do--those are the actions that truly glorify Christ, as we are letting the Spirit of Christ live in and through us.