Serve Together; Mark 9-11

May the mumbling commence!

In mission, there is no competition – only cooperation or duplication or omission.  As human beings, we have a hard time grasping that concept.  Various Christian denominations have muddied the waters even further.  But even in Jesus’ day, people saw other people on a mission as competition.  Read from Mark chapter nine:

Then John said to him, "Master, we saw somebody driving out evil spirits in your name, and we stopped him, for he is not one who follows us."

But Jesus replied, "You must not stop him. No one who exerts such power in my name would readily say anything against me. For the man who is not against us is on our side. In fact, I assure you that the man who gives you a mere drink of water in my name, because you are followers of mine, will most certainly be rewarded."

"And I tell you too, that the man who disturbs the faith of one of the humblest of those who believe in me would be better off if he were thrown into the sea with a great mill-stone hung round his neck!" (Verses 38-42)

Someone else is working in Jesus’ name!  And they’re not one of us.  Do they need to be stopped from unauthorized mission?

Stop someone else from ministering in Jesus’ name?!?  Why not join them in serving in Jesus’ name?  If Christians do not work together for Christ, then how will the Message of Christ’s love get out?

Just think how much better ministry would be if Christians would work together!  Unnecessary duplication would be eliminated so that new efforts might be extended to the forgotten and vulnerable – these invisible people would no longer be omitted from the mission effort.

And there’s even more to behold.  We will discover more and more of Christ Jesus as we serve those in need.  We will see Jesus in those we seek to serve as they provide us with hospitality and “a cold cup of water”.

Jesus never meant mission to be a one way street.  As Christians, we do not bring Jesus to those who do not have him.  As Christians, we discover Christ with those we come to serve… and find ourselves getting more from our ministry experiences that we ever gave.

That’s right.  No matter how hard we try, we cannot out give God.  That, my dear friends, is impossible.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out