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Luke 9:49–50
“John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.’ ”
Missing the point that the true path to greatness is at odds with the world’s values, the disciples had to be instructed in their need for true humility (Luke 9:43b–48). Yet the disciples did not immediately grasp what Jesus was telling them about the priorities of God’s kingdom. In today’s passage, we read of another occasion on which Christ responded to His disciples’ misconceptions.
Christian ministry is not to be about pursuing one’s own greatness, but seeking one’s own renown does not always manifest in outright arguments over who is greater than another (see Luke 9:46–48). Often, striving after an exalted position reveals itself in a territorial spirit. That is, sometimes instead of being grateful that another church or Christian is doing faithful ministry, we can grow resentful and reject that work simply because the church or individual is not a part of our own church, denomination, or other association. We fear that the success of other kingdom servants will take away from our own work, and we want to protect our turf at all costs, even if it means disparaging other faithful servants of Christ. We zealously guard against what we perceive to be encroachments into our “corner” of the kingdom of God, and we start to view ministry as a competition against others.
Paul had to correct territorial factionalism in the first-century Corinthian church (1 Cor. 1–3), but he was not the first to deal with the problem. Luke 9:49–50 indicates that the issue arose among the disciples during Jesus’ earthly ministry. Seeing that someone who was not among the Twelve was casting out demons in the name of Jesus, the disciples tried to stop him, according to John’s statement in verse 49. It seems that John thought Jesus would praise their efforts to halt the ministry of that person who was not part of the Twelve. He probably even expected Jesus to intervene and to go to the man right away and order him to stop.
Jesus, however, neither praised the disciples for trying to stop others nor put an end to the man’s work Himself; rather, He told John that they should let the man continue his ministry in Jesus’ name. The fact that he was not working against the disciples, Jesus said, meant that he was actually for them even if he did not travel with them (Luke 9:50). The disciples’ view of the kingdom was not big enough, for they thought that only their group could truly serve Christ. God’s kingdom cannot be limited to only one group, however, but encompasses all who faithfully minister in Jesus’ name.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
It is easy to fall prey to a territorial spirit that seeks to divide instead of building bridges with other like-minded churches and ministries that are faithful to the gospel. Territorialism can even crop up within individual churches when the ministries of those churches are more concerned with protecting their own domains than with doing good kingdom work alongside one another. May we resist the temptation to be sinfully territorial.
for further study
- Psalm 133
- Mark 9:38–41
- Philippians 1:12–18a
- Titus 3:10–11
the bible in a year
- 2 Kings 1–3
- John 3:22–36