Maturity in Diversity
| "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." "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, for whoever is not against us is for us. 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. (Mark9:38-41) |
Jesus has been sitting with the disciples having the conversation about greatness, humility and welcoming children, when John interjected up with a question: "We saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
This is another example of the disciples taking themselves too seriously. The essentials are present: The Name of Jesus and the power of the Spirit. If the name of Jesus was used, but there was no real spiritual power, then the sincerity of the person is in doubt, and if there was spiritual power, but not the name of Jesus, we might wonder about where the power was coming from.
Jesus is quite clear: when there is spiritual power, or a genuine act of service, and it is done in the name of Jesus, heaven notes it down and it will be rewarded.
Today, Christians tend to be very critical of anyone who does it differently.
People often act like doctrinal police officers, splitting hairs over interpretations and practices. We need to be humble enough to recognise that, in His mercy, God works amongst all kinds of Christians, including us!
Obviously the line has to be drawn at doctrine that denies the fundamentals of the faith (the Apostles' Creed is a good starting point for the fundamentals) and we also need to steer clear of those who don't practice what they preach or don't show true fruit of the power of the Spirit, which isn't only miracles, but the fruit of the Spirit.
There's the lovely tale of the monk who was on a ship that stopped at a desert island. There they found three mystics who prayed a simple prayer: "Father, Son and Spirit You are three and we are three; have mercy on us." Pitying them for their simple prayer, the monk taught them the "Our Father" and then the ship left. A day later a fireball came moving across the water and the three mystics were inside. "We've forgotten the prayer you taught us," they said, "please teach us again." To which the monk replied - perhaps you need to teach me.
