He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.
‹Benjamin Franklin›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
30Sep
2012
Sun
18:39
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 9:38-50

Pentecost 18B 2012 Wordle
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It was not possible for the disciples to cast out the mute spirit from a man’s son. Jesus does it after coming down from the mountain and teaches that He accomplishes much and that faith in Him saves. Then, the band travels by themselves to Capernaum; along the way, the disciples argue among themselves on the topic of greatness—which of them is the greatest among the twelve. Jesus teaches them the greatest is the least and servant of all. Then, John speaks up, perhaps the most gentle among the disciples—the disciple whom Jesus loved—it would seem he tries to make a good impression on Jesus, to show Jesus just how much of a servant he is.

“Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” Jesus responds, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side.”

This is just one of many times where the disciples—and this time John, in particular—just didn’t get it. I suppose we can take some measure of comfort from the fact that things hardly ever went smoothly for the disciples—either while they were with Jesus, or after His death, resurrection, and ascension—and that there were times when they simply failed. Here are Jesus’ hand-picked disciples, His band of twelve; they are the ones who went where ever Jesus went and learned first-hand from the very lips of the Word of God, some of whom even went on and wrote or helped to write what we now have as the New Testament, and even these messed up, made mistakes, flat out got things wrong, and sinned.

There’s comfort there for you and every Christian because you can see the same foul-ups, mistakes, getting things wrong, and sins in your own lives. If these men can do these things and still be loved by Jesus, died for by Jesus, forgiven by Jesus, then the same can be said for the “ordinary” Christian who was not one of the twelve.

You see, as was mentioned the two previous weeks, there are times when you think you can make it on your own, when things are going so well that any thought of God’s involvement in your life is, at most, an afterthought. There are times when you argue amongst yourselves over who is greatest, even here in this little congregation as well as in the larger scopes of what it means to be a church, synod, denomination, etc. Every time, you point to your works—even making your faith a work—as the reason that you have things well, that you are prosperous, that you are greater than the next person.

Yes, you even have your Johannine moments. Now, it’s a pretty safe assumption that you don’t see people who are not one with you casting out demons in the name of Christ as you are walking about in Elizabeth or Kiowa. You may see some people on T.V. from time to time doing so, however, and scoff at them as false teachers. They may be, but who are we to say, without further evidence and testing according to the Scriptures, that these people are truly demon-possessed and that this preacher or person did indeed cast out the demon in the name of Christ? It’s serves you well to have your doubts, but be cautioned against dismissing such exorcisms out of hand.

However, such an attitude is not limited to exorcism. How tempting it is to put God and His Christ, Jesus, into our little box. Here, in our midst we would like to believe, is where Jesus stands and nowhere else. Among us, and us only, does Jesus work, because we get Him right—because we get Him more right than anyone else. Here are the lines we draw, and we expect that God will stay within them. Whoever isn’t for us is against us.

And so, you find yourselves offended when you see the name of Jesus being used in places where we aren’t. You are surprised and flabbergasted that the name of Christ is known and used by people and in places where we aren’t working, where the Lutheran Church is conspicuously absent, where the LCMS has no church or members or pastors. It almost becomes inconceivable to imagine a place where faith in Jesus—true faith in the true Christ—exists apart from the pure teaching of the church catholic, here in our little town and in mission fields around the world.

It’s the same old sin that was brought up two weeks ago, when the disciples were dumbfounded that they couldn’t rid the man’s son of the mute spirit. It’s the idea that godly works depend on us, be that the casting out of demons or bringing people to faith or even having the right faith. The truth is exactly what John learned in today’s text—you are not necessary to it. There are others who aren’t a part of this little congregation, the LCMS, or even Lutheran who have true faith in the true Christ—who trust solely and completely by God-given faith in Jesus for their salvation. There are others who aren’t a part of this little congregation, the LCMS, or even Lutheran who do good works in the name of Christ, be that casting out demons, making disciples of all nations (cf. Matthew 28:19), or simply serving their neighbor with “ordinary” good works.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, your own non-necessity. Your faith and God working in this world, especially upon you, do not depend on you. Don’t get me wrong, you are important to God. Your importance to God is demonstrated in His love for you, in that while you were still enemies of God, without strength, and sinners, as St. Paul puts it, Christ died for you:

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Romans 5:5-10)

Those words—without strength, ungodly, sinners, enemies—should tell you all you need to know about your importance in your salvation, your good works, and what you do for the salvation of others. Those phrases—Christ died for the ungodly, Christ died for us, reconciled to God—should tell you all you need to know about your importance to God, and the importance of all others. You are loved, you are died for, you are redeemed...you are saved. Jesus the Christ, sent of God for your salvation, spread out his arms and was nailed to the cross to die for you, so that you would not have to, because God is displeased that you should die. (cf. Ezekiel 18:32)

By Jesus’ reaction to John, we should learn to rejoice in the fact that God and His Christ, Jesus, do not work in our boundaries. We can rejoice with our fellow believers across the street and around the globe who share the one faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, that His blood covers a multitude of sins: yours, those of the man in the pulpit, our neighbors across the street, and all across the globe.

Of all of those who do works in the name of Christ we can be thankful. It is as Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann commented on this text:

So long as that exorcist was using the name of Jesus reverently, so long as he was employing it for the purpose of performing miracles for the good of people, so long he would not circulate evil reports and blasphemies concerning the Savior. In a case of this kind it is true that everyone not working against Jesus is aiding Him.

So long as those who do works in the name of Christ use the name of Jesus reverently, so long as they are employing it for the purpose of performing miracles for the good of people, so long they will not circulate evil reports and blasphemies concerning the Savior. These all, whether part of our group or not, will not contradict the Scriptures—to do so would be blasphemous concerning the Savior. Are there those who do contradict the Scriptures, who blaspheme the Savior while using His name, who circulate evil in the name of Christ? Certainly! But, “[H]e who is not against us is on our side,” as Jesus said.

There is more to be said on that, which today’s text also goes into. Again, Dr. Kretzmann wrote of this, “John, gentle John, whose mildness and uniform charitableness has justly become proverbial, at this time was still a true ‘son of thunder,’ as Jesus had called him. His zeal and impetuosity was in danger of doing much more harm than good.” It can cause a great scandal if one who does things in the name of Jesus prevents one who is also doing things in the name of Jesus. Scandal is exactly the word Jesus used:

[W]hoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched... And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched... And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire...

Whoever scandalizes a little one...if your hand scandalizes you...if your foot scandalizes you...if your eye scandalizes you... The word Mark used is skandalidzo, which means “cause to stumble or fall.”

Whoever causes a little one of faith—the young, impressionable, new believer—to stumble or fall from faith, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and drowned. This is exactly what could have happened when John stopped the non-disciples from casting out demons. This is exactly what could happen when believers rage against other believers who do works in the name of Jesus simply because they don’t belong to the same groups. The little one of faith sees this and thinks, “If this is how believers act toward each other, I don’t want to be a part of it.” Scathing words from Jesus, it would be better for these to be drowned in the sea with millstones tied around their necks.

But what of hands, feet, and eyes? If these things were to cause you to fall from faith, it would be better to enter into eternity with one or none of them than to burn in the fires of hell with all of them. So, why do you all have all your members? Simply put, because hands, feet, and eyes do not cause sin—they do not scandalize you. Recall what Jesus said a couple of chapters ago:

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. (Mark 7:21-23)

Hands, feet, and eyes do not scandalize you; your heart does. So why does Jesus not implore His disciples and you to pluck out your hearts? Because He already has, even as was preached to you four weeks ago:

He has taken the vileness and sin from you; He has taken your vile, grotesque, and dark hearts from you and was crucified with them, and given you a new heart, even as the Psalmist sings (cf. Psalm 51:10), and we repeat in the Offertory—created a new heart in which He is now present, crucified and risen. The Word of God is near you...in your heart. He creates a new heart and places Himself there and in your fellow Christians by means...

That is why you are encouraged in the Word of God...why you also find comfort in the failings in Jesus’ 12 disciples. The Word of God tells you that you are not necessary for your salvation nor for the eternal well-being of others. It doesn’t depend on you, because if it did, you would be hopeless. You could not die and rise for your sins or the sins of anyone else, but Jesus could and did. You could not create in yourself a clean heart, but Jesus did and has, and has placed Himself there.

You, therefore, have salt in yourselves. Salt was an ancient symbol of purity, as can be attested by anyone who has felt salt in an open wound. Salt was added to ancient sacrifices as a means of indicating that the sacrifice was pure. The sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, was a pure sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, your sins included. You are baptized into the death and resurrection of the Savior of the world—that is to say, you have salt in yourselves, the salt that is Jesus the Christ. You are made pure by His pure sacrifice—in other words, you are forgiven for all of your sins. By that, you have peace with one another, in matters of greatness and things done in the name of Jesus.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Download media: 20120930.pentecost18b.mp3 (7.85 MiB)
audio recorded on my digital recorder and converted to mp3
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