9:38
The teaching in this chapter is very much focused on us having the right heart attitudes. Here the issue of “party spirit” (Gal 5:20) is addressed. John was upset that a man who was not part of their group was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. In Acts 19:13-16 we read of the Sons of Sceva who attempted to cast out demons “in the name of Jesus who Paul preaches”. They had no faith and were using the name of Jesus as a magical formula. That did not work! This man appears to have genuine faith and it worked.
9:39,40
Jesus tells John not to stop the man. He had genuine faith and so would not “in the next moment” speak against Jesus. Then Jesus adds “whoever is not against us”. There are interesting issues and lessons for us here. There are numerous denominations and groupings. No grouping is perfect, and we must avoid thinking we have got it all, and anyone who is not part of us is not part of Christ. At the same time we need to take in the whole of the Bible’s teaching, and there are clearly times when a group, individual or denomination is clearly wrong, and there times when a group should not be considered part of the church. However, the main lesson of this part of Scripture is that we should start with a generous spirit.
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