He who is not against us is for us.

Mark 9:30-10:12 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. ³¹ For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” ³² But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

³³ They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

³⁸ John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰ For he who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

⁴² “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, ⁴⁴ where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. ⁴⁵ If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, ⁴⁶ where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. ⁴⁷ If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, ⁴⁸ where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

⁴⁹ “For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

10 Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.

² Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. ³ And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away. ⁵ But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. ⁷ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

¹⁰ In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. ¹¹ And He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; ¹² and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

In today’s text it says:  John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us. For  whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”  The church today needs to recognize that we may not always agree on ministry styles and methods, but we should all be for the same thing, that Christ is glorified. It doesn’t mean though that everything is okay if the name of Christ is added to it. In Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus says: “See to it that no one misleads you.  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”  There are many today who sanction sin in Christ’s name. They say that Jesus would tolerate, condone and embrace the immorality of our culture and society today. Jesus warns that we should not be misled. Those who say Jesus condones sin are not for Him, but against Him. Far from embracing sin, Jesus embraced the suffering of the cross so that we could be free from sin. In today’s text Jesus says:  “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.”   In Isaiah 5:20 God says:  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Jesus says:  “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

In the text it says:  Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away. But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”  I don’t want to delve deeply into the topic of divorce, but rather want to focus on what this says in light of the rest of today’s text. The culture, the society or the government can make laws for the society, but those laws do not supersede God’s laws.  Just because something is legal does not make it right or moral. The laws of society change with the whims of the culture, according to the hardness of our hearts. God’s law never changes. In Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus says:  “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”   Jesus fulfilled the consequences of sin for us. He died for our sins so that we could live free from sin. When He was on the cross, in Luke 23:34 Jesus said: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  There is no sin so great that the power of the cross cannot redeem us from it. Only the sin that we choose not to submit to the cross; only for what we desire to continue in do we still bear the consequences ourselves. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Jesus didn’t die to change the law. He died to change our hearts.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, that You are for me and not against me. Thank You Jesus that You paid the price for my sins. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in me, may I walk with You. May I be for You and not against You. May I be in agreement with all that You say. Amen.