Our scripture reading for this evening is from the gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 9. Now picking up where we had left off the last time, Mark 9 verse 38, we will read through verse 42. The main emphasis will be up to verse 41, but Verse 42 is connected and it serves as a bit of a transition or overlap to what we, Lord willing, will pick up next time. But it is connected, it's connected to both. But we will read beginning verse 8, Mark 9, or verse 38 of Mark 9. Hear the word of God. Now John answered him, saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us, casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us. But Jesus said, Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is on our side. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And we will end our reading there of God's holy, inspired, infallible word. May he add his blessing to the preaching thereof. Well, congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, you do not have to be a doctor or in the medical field working in some fashion to know that our immune system It's something that's quite incredible. It's something that we all very much need as well, because what our immune system does is that they fight off those viruses and the bacteria and all these other germs that, well, seek to do harm to our bodies. All these diseases, and so the immune system, it attacks the diseases or whatever is ailing us to keep our bodies not just alive, yes alive, but healthy and well. To be tip-top shape. And that is really partly the reason why any of us are here tonight is because God has given to us an immune system that can bring us here alive. And so we are grateful to that, to God for that. Recently, at least in the Vander Molen home, We have been acquainted with something that's known as an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease. And essentially what that is, is a disease that is caused by the immune system. It's doing the very opposite of what the immune system ought to be doing. Because instead of fighting for the well-being and the benefit of the body from foreign invaders into the body, it fights against the body itself. It fights even against its own immune system, fighting against itself in that way. It thinks there's some kind of disease that's going on, but what it does is it's actually targeting healthy cells and destroying what is good, destroying what is healthy. destroying what it is that we need for our bodies, all of these members. And I came across a number that there may be somewhere around 80 or so, probably more, autoimmune diseases. And that means that there's a pretty good chance that one of you here has a autoimmune disease, more than one, I'm sure. And That means that you know how chronic, how debilitating, how the ripple effects of it seep into every part of your life, how devastating it can be to have a body that has declared war on itself. It's tragic when one member of the body has declared a war on another member of the body. And in the body of Christ, the same thing happens. One member sets themselves against another member of the body and it has debilitating effects. And in our verses, Jesus addresses this very thing head on. He's getting after, as he's responding to John, what is known as a party spirit or a divisive spirit or mindset. One that is a prideful heart and mind that sets itself against other Christians and an elevated sense of self and seeks to then put a stop to them. Whatever it is they're doing. Jesus addresses this because it contradicts what Jesus had just said in the verses that came right before this. His call to receive even the least of these. A little child. He had said in the midst of them and took it to his arms and probably as he's saying this is still in Jesus' arms. Even though one may be leased as a child in the faith, but because they have faith in Christ, what that means is that they're not warring against us. They're one of us. They're the same body. And they belong. And so we have the title this evening, One of Us. One of Us. Who is it that belongs? And that is the question, our first point, the question of who belongs? Who's a disciple? Who's a member of this kingdom? And then the second point is the teaching, what it is that Jesus declares as he corrects and as he draws out more doctrine and truth concerning who's one of us, who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we first consider the question of who belongs and it comes from John here as we read in verse 37 or in 38 rather. Now to be clear, John isn't asking a question so much as he's making a statement. And so by question what I mean is that there is a particular topic a subject that is in question, or under scrutiny, or that's being discussed. And so, this topic has to do with one of us, and so we can ask the question, who belongs? who belongs and as we had mentioned this has already been addressed by Jesus that are right before ours particularly verse 37 whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me and also receives the Father in heaven. And so these Christians who are truly Christians and profess to be such and evidence such, who are least in the eyes of many or in the world, nevertheless They are to be received and to be viewed as fellow believers in Christ. And what that means is that we need to view them as fellow heirs of grace. As a brother or sister in the Lord and love them as such. Even though they may not have much status, much regard in the eyes of the world. And so we are to love them and we are to serve them. And this is how a disciple is recognized. And so the question of who belongs has already begun to be answered already. A disciple is recognized not by the honor that he gives to those who may be in high places and important places, but how it is that he views and responds to and interacts with those who, in the eyes of the world, are insignificant, who are the least in society and in this world. Well, Jesus is not done teaching these principles because it continues on into our section of verses here. And that's because John reveals through his statement that there is still much selfish ambition that is within the hearts of the disciples. There is still a spirit of pride and of self-seeking. Now we read in verse 38 that John said this. John is singled out. And this is one of Mark's ways of telling us this is something that is very important and we need to pay close attention to. Usually, if there's something that is said by the disciples, all of it is important for us to give our attention to. But this is one that is especially important. So he names the name of Mark, whereas in other times it's just vaguely, generally, the disciples. This is singled out. John says this. And so we ought to have our ears perked up the more upon this verse and pay close attention to it. And pay close attention to the fact that it's John who's saying this. Now who is John? Well, this is the apostle John, who was later inspired to write the gospel, and also the three letters, and the book of Revelation. This is the John that is often known as the disciple of love, or the apostle of love. That is because Jesus had called him the disciple whom he loved. And if you read his epistles, especially 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, you will see all of the affection and love just pouring out of his own heart, and how many times he addresses them as beloved, and beloved, and beloved again, and little children, and my little children. And so there is that affection and love that he displays and through that he's also very concerned with this question that we have before us. Question of who belongs. And in his letters he draws out very clear marks of who is, who belongs, who does not belong. For example, First John 3 verse 14, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. So we see this is the character of John, one that is loving. One whose heart is full of joy and of love for Christ and for his people. But he had to learn it. He had to grow. Because he was not always in this way. this loving, gentle, gracious character that we are led to believe through his letters. In fact, earlier in the gospel, chapter three, verse 17, we read of Jesus giving to John and to his brother James a certain nickname. And I may botch the pronunciation of this nickname, but it's Boanerges, I believe that's how you pronounce it. But it basically means the sons of thunder. Sons of Thunder, that's the nickname that Jesus gave to John and to his brother James. Son of Thunder. And whenever we read in scripture, son of, or children, or child of, it's simply giving to us a picture of the behavior that this person is characterized by. So first Peter speaks of the sons or the children of obedience. It's telling us it means that those whose lives are characterized by obedience. The same thing about the children of wrath, their lives are characterized by wrath. So here when you think of the son of thunder, this is saying something about his own character. They're characterized by thunder. We've had a few thunderstorms in this year so far. Would you call these storms gentle, gracious, kind, soft? There's nothing gentle about thunder at all. It's loud, it's brash, it's violent, it's in your face. And thunder, of course, is caused by lightning, which is very, very hot. And so these are men of zeal. Zeal means to be hot with something. These are men of passions of forthright truth. These are ones that will be zealously contending for what it is that they really are passionate and believe in. And this is a zeal that is misguided. Zeal here, and this concern. Now there's nothing wrong with zeal in and of itself. We're called to be zealous. God has zeal. Christ has zeal. The zeal of the Lord's house consumed our Lord in the best way possible. But we need to understand that there's two different kinds of zeal. There's a natural zeal and a spiritual zeal. The natural zeal is a zeal without knowledge. Or think of knowledge in terms of wisdom, properly guided, with a proper attitude, a proper heart of love and of gentleness and of self-control. This isn't the only instance. Just to give you another picture of this kind of zeal that John and that James had, a very clear instance of what also was the heart behind this question of who belongs. You think of what occurred in Luke 9, verse 54. Luke 9, verse 54. Jesus and the disciples, they're in Samaria. The gospel is going forth to the Samaritans, and the Samaritans reject it. Now, how did James, how did John react? Well, they ask the Lord. They respond with thunder, asking the Lord, shall we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? That's what they ask Him. And Christ rebukes them. And he says, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. There's a zeal that he had of people who were rejecting the gospel, which indeed is a good thing to be concerned about. But to consume them with fire from heaven? That's the zeal which lacks love and wisdom, compassion and knowledge that John is known for, what John had to learn. And here is another example of that. And so essentially what John is saying to Jesus is that, well, we were out and about once and we saw this guy who is casting out demons in your name. And, well, we stopped him. as though this were a good thing. And note especially why it is they stopped him. It was not because this man wasn't following Jesus, but because he wasn't following us. He was not a part of our group. And so they opposed him. and they're trying to bring an end to his work. And so we have a man who is not even a part of this inner circle, the 12 hand-picked disciples, and he is doing something that these disciples, in verse 18, were unable to do. Casting out the demons. You think their pride was hurt Their concern was not with the glory of Christ. Their concern was not for the kingdom of Christ. Their concern was with themselves. Their concern was with their own party, with their own group. The lesson here, the idea that is being brought forth in a lot of ways, is that this natural zeal, zeal without knowledge or without wisdom, without love, can be used to produce and advance sectarianism, divisiveness, narrow-minded divisiveness. They're seeking themselves, they're seeking their own group. They desire that this kind of thing would be for them and for their work only. And so, we ought to remember and take heed of these things. Because it is often very difficult to discern, as it were, whether it is the passions and the desires that arise within us of a great concern for the gospel, for the truth, for orthodoxy, for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. is being done in a spirit of spiritual zeal or natural zeal. There's great energy, there's great excitement for a cause in both a natural zeal and a spiritual zeal. But one is only concerned with the self. with a group, with a label, a one that is accompanied by so many other natural things of the flesh, and we become so full of self. It develops into an us versus them mentality. Here, listen to what J.C. Ryle said. Men of all branches of Christ's church are apt to think that no good can be done in the world unless it is done by their own party or denomination. They make an idol of their own peculiar ecclesiastical machinery and can see almost no merit in any other. The zeal for this was concern for us, for themselves. Ryle goes on and says, Christians have repeatedly persecuted Christians for no other reason than that which is here given by John. And persecution, I believe, Ryle means just certain measures of opposition. not the same kind of persecution that comes from the world. But he says, we may think our fellow Christians to be mistaken on many points, where John here was saying he wasn't with us. We may fancy that more would be done for Christ if they did it the way we do it. We may even see many evils arising from religious dissensions and divisions, but all this must not prevent us from rejoicing. If the works of the devil are destroyed and souls are saved, it is better a thousand times, excuse me, it is better a thousand times that the work should be done by other hands than not done at all. Say that one more time. It is better a thousand times that the work should be done by other hands than not done at all. So who belongs with us? Who belongs to or is united to Bethany URC? To the URC? And how is it that we measure and determine who it is that belongs? Is it if they run with us? If they do it the way that we think is the best way to do it? We may consider this even coming forth in many subtle ways. Where maybe there's still a true church. Some other organization, some other church down the road. They're not quite there with us. The church, maybe down the road, they've had a lot of work and a lot of conversions, hypothetically speaking, but this church is not really where we are and so there must surely be some problems with their conversions that are there, right? That church is fine, but they don't use the King James that we do or whatever else. What other thing that we may put on with this and it is in us versus them mentality. It is you want to run with us because we are the ones who are better and we are not to be of this spirit. Jesus corrects. Jesus rebukes. We need a zeal indeed, but not a natural zeal. We need a spiritual zeal. Zeal in the Bible is a gift of the Spirit, of the Holy Spirit that's placed upon our hearts as a benefit and fruit of Christ's work upon the cross. And so you think of zeal, therefore, as a love that is on fire. It's hot, it's energetic. Too often it's more the fire and not the love, more the heat. But if it is something that is given to us by the Holy Spirit, it is therefore a spiritual zeal and it will bear the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy. Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Love is sacrificial. Love lays down for others. Love seeks others good in preference to my own. Love views others as better than self. And there are the other fruit as well, the Spirit, because where there's the one, if it is of the Spirit, there are the others, and so it is peace. It's peaceful. It doesn't provoke enmity. It doesn't provoke war or division or schism in the ways that sinful zeal can do. It's something that's unifying. It's something that's reconciling. It's long-suffering. It doesn't just immediately cut them down and tell them off in an instant and say, nope, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong here and there. It's gentle, it's meek, it's temperate or self-controlled. Natural zeal will go off the rails and spill out uncontrollably like a boil that's going over the pot and it's quick and all of these actions in these words, but spiritual zeal is temperate and controlled. This is what John learned. and what he spoke of and wrote of. I hope that every one of us has zeal. God is zealous. Christ is zealous. But it is to be a zeal that is tempered by love, controlled by love. zeal that is without it. Calvin said it is like a sword in the hands of a lunatic. And so it needs to be controlled by the spirit. It will bear the fruit of gentleness. It will be Christ-like. And so this requires prayer. This requires for us to be humble. I pray to the Lord to give to us a spirit of humility. Our Father in heaven loves to give good gifts to his children. Those who are closest to Jesus got it wrong. Who are we to say that we will get it right? We need to be humble and we need to be that given by the Spirit. To have our zeal tempered by the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit, to be humble. and loving, and to not think. And we're better than any other just because we may disagree on certain points or another. Now what we are not saying is that here we open the door to anyone and everyone, no matter what, without any spirit of discernment. We are still called to have a discernment. The matter that is at hand in this text is that of the heart and of attitude as we view others. Others who go about the work of the kingdom, so to speak, in the name of Christ. And that is exactly what this man was doing. This brings us to our second point, the teaching of who it is that belongs. And this teaching comes from the Lord Jesus Christ himself as he explains these things and we read in verses in verse 42 at least the allusion to the fact that this is this man who is doing these things is one that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and we read it from John's words himself that he was casting out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and so what this is teaching us is that This man was going forth in sincerity and truthfulness and uprightness of faith and of heart. He was a believer. He was conducting certain works in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was putting down the forces of darkness and of evil and of the kingdom. In other words, he's on our team. Wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't make sense to oppose someone who is on your team. Think about being on a football team. I know I use baseball analogies and basketball analogies a lot. Think of football. You have a quarterback. Imagine he gets to the ball right at the beginning of the play, and then all of a sudden, one of his own linebackers turns around and sacks him. You think, well, what are you doing? Doesn't make any sense. You're a team, you're supposed to go that way. And this is essentially what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, that not only acknowledging the belief that one believes in his name, attached to by John, but by the teaching that comes in verse 40 especially. For he who is not against us, is on our side. Now note that phrase carefully. There are similar statements that Jesus makes in other places. You think of maybe what he says later on about those that are not for us, are against us. But this is the other way around. Those that are not against us, are on our side. And so Jesus is speaking in these broader terms here of considering and coming down to the heart and core of the matter of those who truly and sincerely profess faith in the Lord. If they are going forth, doing things in the name of the Lord and doing it in conformity with the word of God, even though they may not be a part of our group, Nevertheless, they are on our side because they have faith. That's what determines who is one of us. And so we see that the Lord is bringing these matters of clarification to the fore here. He is not just bringing out a liberal and tolerant spirit for his sake as many others would have us to do saying as we mentioned before just opening up the church, allowing whoever comes in, doesn't matter what you believe about Jesus or who he is, just come on in. No, we must still show discernment. We're not throwing out the rest of the Bible that goes for these things, but it is a matter of overall goal and priority when it comes to the life of faith. In other words, we need to consider what it is that we aim for. What are you aiming for? What am I aiming for? Going about doing the things we're called to do in the name of Christ. Are you aiming for us? Are you aiming for the glory of an organization, the glory of a name, the glory of the URC, the glory of Bethany, or are you looking out for the glory of Christ? If John were more concerned about the glory of Christ, He would have seen this man casting out this demon and said, glory to God in the highest. Not to forbid him. The glory rather is in the self. We can say all day long, soli deo gloria, glory to God alone. We could say all day long. that we are here for the glory of Christ, but what happens in reality, in the practice of life, doesn't match up with our creed, with what we say. And so we need to ask ourselves once again, what are we aiming for? Whose glory is it that we are after? If you think about Paul, the Apostle Paul, in Philippians 1 where he was undergoing a real test, a real struggle while he was in chains and behind jail. There in Philippians 1 verse 15 he says that some preach Christ out of envy and strife, which is not a good motivation to be doing that. And we would say this is not what we would do here, not one of us. And he says some preach Christ out of goodwill. That's good. That's a good thing to consider. Some preach out of selfish ambition and not sincerely. The other out of love. What then? He asks. Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And of this I rejoice. Yes, and will rejoice. So this is the goal, the focus of Christ's teaching here when it comes to what it is that we are about. One of us is those who have believed in Christ, therefore we are all about the glory of Christ in truth and in sincerity. And there's also a certain measure of unity that is being taught here. As we had mentioned before, he's not against us, he's for us. And he's saying that if there's one who's not attacking, who's not opposing us, he's on our side if he's engaged in these things in the name of Christ. It's not about my tribe and your tribe, it's all of the people of God in the name of Christ. So all of them together, as Ephesians 4 puts it, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. That's the matter at hand. What we're being taught is we need to have a Catholic spirit. By Catholic, I do not mean the Roman Catholic Church. Think of it in lowercase c, and it means universal. We need to use that word more often and use it unashamed of it. It is the word that they have stolen from us, and we confess it in our apostles' creed, to be united with one another, united into the glory of Christ, united by that faith, even as little and as childish, childlike as it may be. And we think also what he's being taught is that even the smallest, even the least, doing the least, is noticed and received by Christ when it is done in his name, when it is done in faith and love toward him, even giving a little cup of water. That is acceptable to Christ. We may be concerned with the big things of service to the Lord, service in the church, And that too, if that is the undue focus, betrays the spirit of pride and self-seeking. But even the little things are noticed of the Lord. You may feel sometimes that you're not really serving the Lord, serving the church. You're not doing something great and grand like a demonic exorcism like we read here. You're not doing this great work like preaching from a pulpit or going out on the mission field or you're just maybe doing little things in your view that are insignificant and nothing. They're noticed of the Lord. Doesn't matter if they're noticed by men, we ought to notice them. But the Lord sees all. Maybe it's just a one-on-one meeting that you have with somebody, maybe a cup of coffee you have, or giving a meal that's very small and very practical, and you're thinking, well, how am I really serving Christ? How am I serving the body in this way? I can't read Bible studies, I can't do this or that. Well Christ sees this, Christ notices this, and Christ blesses that. And truly he will by no means lose his reward. And it's not only the little in faith, it's even what appears to be the little works of faith. We do out of love and genuine faith in Christ. And the reality that's before us is that a true faith does offer and enable us to have gifts. This is 1 Corinthians 12 in seed form, so to speak, with the body of the Lord, with each member of the body being a needed and integral part of the body. and therefore to bring our gifts in our service, in service to the Lord, to glory in Him, but to bring to the body of Christ, whatever it may be, whether it's working the sound booth, whether it's working in the nursery or coffee or whatever else there may be. It doesn't have to be these great and grand gestures. or even the least of these, are noticed of the Lord and are blessed. And we need to then take heed to these things because the Lord gives a great and sober warning. A matter which we will have to pick up next time as time is going on, but let it suffice for now that there is a great warning that he gives of having a millstone hung around his neck and thrown into the sea for those who prevent, for those who stop in the way of even the least of these, even those that are not a part. It'd be better for you to have a 4,000-pound stone tied around your neck and chucked into the water, where you will surely drown, than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Do we make ones to stumble by a spirit of pride and divisiveness? saying, well, you're not really one of us. Let us make like John, after this interaction, where he came to speak in the many great and wonderful things concerning the love of the brethren. For this is how we know we have passed from death to life. We love the brethren, and one is a brother if he calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, in uprightness of heart, in conformity with the word, the truth of the gospel. Amen, let us pray. Gracious God and Father, we do thank you for the wonderful rebukes indeed that you give needed For the expansive truth, we do ask that these matters will be brought to our heart by your spirit. So give to us a heart and a spirit of love and charity toward one another, ultimately out of honor and respect to you. For those indeed that you've given true faith are united to you as a member of your body. May we not then war against our head and our master by having this party spirit of pride and divisiveness. And may we be those who rejoice in the work of God and the furtherance of the kingdom. It is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. In response, we turn in song to number 450. Number 450. Oh master, let me walk with thee. One that follows in his path of humility, of lowliness, of mind, and of patience, and as that attitude works its way toward our fellow believers. And so we'll stand to sing the four verses of 450. In love he has us ever extreme. Tell me thy secret, and be there. The stream of joy, the breath of life. Tell me thy secret, Christ the living Word of God, leads me away where need to stay, In closer fear her company, In her glad knees lay sweet and strong, We trust her triumphs over all. Hark! The herald angels' glory play, In peace and hope, in love, in spirit. The offerings this evening was for Alpha Grand Rapids and afterwards we'll stand to sing our doxology number 487 and let us pray. Our gracious God and our Father in heaven we do pray for your blessing upon Alpha Grand Rapids as they seek to provide counseling and services to those that are dealing with crisis pregnancies and we certainly do pray that your spirit would be upon our nation and your hand upon it and the great evil of abortion and that you would equip and enable many to offer support that is needed for the raising of these children that are at risk, and the help to these mothers also who are at risk. And so we pray that in all things that your name would be honored and glorified, even in the laws of our land and our nation, and even in the help that is offered unto these people. And so we pray for your blessing upon this organization, and it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.