Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (2009)

The Power of the Spirit Cannot be Bound Rev. Toby Byrd

Mark 9:38-50 (ESV)

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." [39] But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. [40] For the one who is not against us is for us. [41] For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. [42] "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. [43] And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

[44] [45] And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.

[46] [47] And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown 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 has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Looking around at your friends and neighbors, you’ll find many who once claimed membership in a church but no longer do. Many have been turned away from organized Christianity because of the bigotry they’ve encountered there. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who was bitterly anti-Christian, rebuked religious bigotry by saying, “We desire the deepest fellowship, we long for true brotherhood, and you [Christians] give us only pious societies, which are in conflict with each other.” Is that how it seems to you? Does religious intolerance always indicate a bigot rather than a believer? Does it seem cruel rather than faithful to say that a religious teaching or practice is wrong? Is there never a time to declare that someone’s beliefs are in error? Is it always name-calling to label someone a false teacher?

The Gospel Reading for today teaches us there are times when religious intolerance is bigotry. The apostles had prejudged a man’s teaching simply because he wasn’t a member of their group; the group that followed after Jesus. St. John and the other disciples had tried to hinder and stop a stranger from exorcising demons in the name of Jesus. They were concerned about Jesus and imagined that only followers of His, not only themselves, the Twelve, but also the company of disciples who followed, were able to invoke the name of our Lord and perform miracles. It isn’t that the unknown exorcist opposed Jesus or the apostles. It wasn’t that he taught a doctrine different from Jesus; it wasn’t that he claimed some divine power. No, he just wasn’t a part of their group. Therefore, this exorcist wasn’t judged because of what he taught about Jesus or because of what he did in Jesus’ name. Rather, he was judged solely on the basis of where he was in following Jesus.

From the gist of the text, it appears that St. John’s conscience was bothering him. He was wondering whether he and the other disciples had acted properly. Obviously, they thought so at the time, but now John wasn’t so sure. Recalling what Jesus had to say regarding innocent children; “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (Mark 9:37 ESV), St. John began to have second thoughts. Perhaps, he thought, they should not have intervened when this man was acting in the name of Jesus.

It is good that St. John’s conscience was bothering him because religious intolerance that comes from pride or prejudice is always wrong. In this case St. John’s came from both. The only reason he gave for opposing the man was, “because he was not following us” (v. 38). Filled with pride, St. John could not see that the boundaries for his church weren’t defined by Jesus and His teaching but rather they were defined by his self-esteem. Where pride is, prejudice can’t be far behind. The apostles presumed with no evidence that the man had to be against Jesus because he wasn’t with them.

In being intolerant of the unnamed exorcist, the disciples were being religious bigot’s not faithful believers, and Jesus quickly corrects them saying, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward” (vv. 39-41). Such a small act of giving a believer a drink of water is rated quite highly by Jesus. Our Lord sees the spiritual quality of the act, giving someone a drink because they belong to Him. For anyone can give a drink of water to a thirsty person, this is simply a humanitarian act. However, when it is done in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, it becomes more than merely human, it becomes spiritual and carries the power of our Lord’s mercy. Thus, with these words of rebuke from the Lord, St. John and the others had to feel foolish. The man they foolishly rebuked had done nothing more than what they themselves were trying to do, foil Satan and his attempts of robbing men of their souls! His work carried the power of Christ! What would they do next, slap the hand trying to give them a cup of water because they belonged to Christ? They had forgotten, the Power of the Spirit did not rest solely on them and it could not be bound.

Without question, Jesus could have scolded the disciples more sharply for ignoring this fact. The evidence was clear; the man was exorcising demons in Jesus’ name. There could be no question, this man, using the name of Jesus, showed that he had some measure of faith; a gift that comes only by the Spirit. Moreover, he was successful. Even though some try to use the name of Jesus like some charm or spell to get results, God’s revealed Word shows us in Acts 19 that such misuse does not work. Seven Jewish exorcists tried to cast out a demon in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preached, but their efforts led to failure. The evil spirit replied that while he knew who Jesus and Paul were; he didn’t know who they were. Therefore, the evil spirit leaped on them, beating them and sent them running away naked and wounded (Acts 19:13-16). Nothing of this kind happened to the man in Mark’s Gospel.

It was nothing more than bigotry justified by pride and prejudice that led the apostles to reject this successful exorcist. However, not all religious intolerance is bigotry, some is righteous indignation based on God’s Word.

Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13 ESV). Moreover, in today’s Gospel Reading, our Lord reminds the disciples, “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (v. 49, 50).

Some feel these words are difficult to understand. However, our Lord spoke with sufficient clarity to be understood by His disciples. The main idea is clear; salt has a purpose, to keep food from spoiling and to make it tasty. Moreover, there are certain things that are contrary to God’s Word, certain interpretations of Scripture and certain worship practices that are contrary to faith and contrary to righteousness. Therefore, we, as the salt of the earth, should rightly burn against them.

We burn against whoever causes even the littlest of believers to stumble into sin and towards unbelief. It’s not being a bigot to oppose those who lead others astray from the pure teachings of God’s Word. In fact, Scripture demands we oppose false teachers and teaching: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them” (Romans 16:17 ESV). Again, “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6 ESV). And again, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting” (2 John 1:10 ESV).

Thus, as the salt of the earth, we oppose all who would lead souls astray by teaching things not in agreement with God’s Word. We have no permission from our Lord Jesus to claim to be compassionate by agreeing to disagree with those who teach contrary to His Word. Teaching contrary to the Word of God leads people into sin and Jesus gave his disciples this dire warning, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea” (v. 42). The horrors of hell cannot be imagined by our limited intelligence. Therefore, if a person who causes others to sin is better off at the bottom of the ocean with a millstone hung around his neck rather than in hell, would it not be better to oppose him in the hopes of leading him to repentance and away from such a horrible fate?

However, before we get on our high horse looking for false teachers to oppose, we had better stay off that horse and first go look into a mirror. When Holy Scripture tells us we are to oppose all that is contrary to God’s Word that includes our sins as well. In fact, our Lord tells us, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5 ESV). Thus, we have to conclude looking into the mirror for our logs must come first before we began looking for splinters in others.

Oh, to be sure, some of us don’t want to look into the mirror for fear of what we’ll see. Therefore, I ask you, what do you see when you look into the mirror? I don’t know about you, but I see a hand that strikes in anger, one that is quick to point out the error of others and quicker still to pat themselves on the back for their perceived goodness. I see a foot that wants to go its way and not God’s way. I see a foot that is comfortable on the broad path that leads to hell and hesitant to walk on the narrow path that leads to heaven. I see a foot that can stand all day in work and play but can’t stand to be in worship for an hour. Moreover, I see an eye that loves to lust after forbidden fruit and an eye that sees the tinniest splinters of others.

Faced with this reality, then we must ask, “What does Jesus say is to be done now?” Well He tells us to cut off the offensive hand! Hack off the loathsome foot! Pluck out the wandering eye and not to tolerate sinfulness in our members! However, remember this: Though you had no hands to hit, nor feet to wander, nor eyes to lust, you would still have a heart that desired to. Yet, you don’t need fewer arms, or legs, or eyes; what you need is a new heart, a heart cleansed of sin. Moreover, you’ll never cure a sinful heart by maiming the body. Sin doesn’t reside in hands, or feet, or eyes; it resides in the heart. There is but one way to cure a sin-ridden heart and that’s through repentance and confession which comes by the Power of the Spirit, a power which cannot be bound.

Our Lord, Jesus knows the answer is not in maiming the body. Oh to be sure, it would be better to be handless, lame, or half blind in heaven then to be whole in hell. However, mutilating your body will not get you into heaven. There is but one path to heaven and it goes through a new heart, a repentant heart, a believing heart that lays hold of the sinless and holy hands and feet of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Hands and feet that were nailed to a cross so the sins committed by our hands, feet and eyes could be forgiven. It follows the lance that was shoved into the holy heart of our Lord Jesus, spilling His blood so our hearts could be cleansed of their sin. Yet, following that path is not our idea, it is not our nature, it takes The Power of the Spirit that Cannot be Bound to lead us to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Led there by The Power of the Spirit you come to the realization of St. John in today’s Gospel Reading. How foolish you are to believe it is your power that saves. You are given the gift to believe that through those nail that held our Lord to the cross and by the spear that wounded Him, you are healed, you are forgiven. Your sins of heart, hands, feet, and eyes have been paid for. Thus, you can admit that you’re a helpless, hopeless sinner. Moreover, it matters not whether your sins are secret ones of the heart or open ones of the body. You confess that you are at the mercy of your own merciless and wretched sinfulness and that unless God has mercy on you for the sake of His Son, Jesus, your sins will prevail.

Oh, but thank God, He does and will have mercy on you for Jesus’ sake. He who didn’t spare the eyes, feet, hands, or heart of His perfect Son in order to pay for your sins will not withhold His mercy or His help from you. The sins you have no answer for, God has the answer in Christ. The sins that no one can help you with, God in Christ will help you. Moreover, He starts today, He starts here and now in this worship service. As Jesus rose from the dead without your sins, so you can rise from that pew without your sins weighing on your soul or on your conscience. Our Lord, Jesus has taken your sins away in His death and cast them as far as the east is from the west. They shall be remembered no more!

How sobering, facing your sins knocks you off the high horse of religious bigotry and onto your knees where you belong. Brought low by the humility of our Lord, you are now able to handle those who cause others to sin. Since we know ourselves to be such gross, guilty sinners, we know that we can’t deal with the sins of others based on our holiness. Moreover, Holy Scripture never said we should. However, we are to oppose those who sin because our Savior commands it. It is our Christian duty. By all means, the first duty is to see to the log in our own eye, but Jesus didn’t stop there. He said after you have removed the log from your own eye, “then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5 ESV).

However, we don’t go splinter pulling just because we’re right and they’re wrong; after all, we’re all wrongful sinners. Instead, we go because God has made us His salt on earth through forgiving our sins for Jesus’ sake. Our Lord Jesus says to us, “everyone will be salted with fire” (v. 49) and to “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (v. 50). Jesus isn’t commanding what we should be but rather He is telling us what He will make us through the Power of the Spirit which cannot be bound. The Spirit turns our hearts to Jesus and sanctifies us in the true faith with each passing day. Now, our new nature created by the forgiveness of sins, is in the image of Christ: truly righteous and holy forever. It is the salt of the earth. Salt burns and cleanses all that is opposed to it. Salt always melts ice. Salt always cleanses wounds.

Jesus says we have salt in ourselves and then He commands us to be at peace with each other. These are not mutually exclusive, rather these are complimentary. Led by The Power of the Spirit which Cannot be Bound we can be salt to each other and still be at peace with one another. Salt doesn’t salt, salt; salt doesn’t burn salt; salt doesn’t cleanse salt, salt only cleanses what is contrary to salt. Therefore when we are being the salt God has made us through the Spirit, we only burn and cleanse in each other that which works against the peace we have in Christ. Therefore, we are in reality seasoning each other for life everlasting. Amen

May the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.