Oscar isn't everything... Some thoughts on Mark 9 38-40

In case you think my life is made up only of Oscar the lamb, rest assured, it isn't. He is just taking center stage at the moment. I wanted to take a minute to talk about something our Lord said in the Gospel of Mark. But let me give some background first.

I was associated with a group of Baptist Churches here in Australia that were cultish, if not a cult in themselves. There were many problems, and after a while, my eyes were opened and we removed ourselves from them. One of the beliefs they held was that, if one was not Baptised, not just in a baptist church, but an independent baptist church, and some even stretched it further to say not in a BBF church, then one's baptism was not valid. Now I am not going to go deeply into that here. In Mark chapter 9:38-40 we read...

"38: And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39: But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40: For he that is not against us is on our part. "

Pay particular attention to verse 40. "He that is not against us is ON OUR PART."

This calls to mind the work of an advocate, or a lawyer. Someone who is acting "on one's part" is acting in one's best interests. And Jesus certainly knew the heart of the man who the disciples saw casting out devils in His Own Name, being Omniscient and everything. So if Jesus said to his (for instance) Baptist Apostle John (not John the Baptist), don't stop the Calvary Chapel guy over there because he is acting on our part, then what business does an earthly pastor have trying to tell his congregation that theirs is the only right church? There are lots of churches around today that are doing things a little differently than we used to do. Is that wrong? Ritchie Miller, the youth pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida while I was a student at the college there, and now is the founding Pastor of The Avalon Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, told us in class that a church could and should be culturally relevant (I think that was his favourite phrase actually). Today's culture is different from the 90s, the 80s the 70s (praise the Lord for that) and especially different from the 50s and 60s. I am not saying to not preach against the world, the flesh and the Devil, but it has to be done in a way that gets the attention of the people who live today, playing their xboxes, listening to their Ipods and posting their facebook statuses every two seconds. Another church that has done things differently is the Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I haven't been there, but I have read their statement of Faith and it doesn't seem any different to what I believe. Granted, the video church service might not be everybodies cuppa tea, but there is no denying the fact that thousands of people each week are hearing the preaching of God's word at Mars Hill. In possibly one of the strongest bastions of politcal leftism in the country, outside of say, San Francisco or Los Angeles.

So what am I saying? Basically I am saying that all Christians should be more concerned with how they are worshipping our creator, not how other people or churches are doing it. Of course there are false religions. Mormonism, Islam, Seventh Day Adventists...the list is long and Walter Martin has covered most of it already, and I am not advocating alignment with these...and I am not advocating tolerance of sin either. But gluttony and greed are no different than homosexuality and stealing. There are no degrees of sin. There is no sin which is worse than another. And they ALL will be forgiven with just a word to God in repentence.

So walk with God the way you feel he would have you walk with Him. As Christians, we are our own priests. We come directly to God in prayer. We do not go through an intermediary. Confession may be good for the soul but only if you confess to God himself, not to a priest in a confessional. God Bless everyone, and I will talk to you later.

Jonathan