Reflecting on Luke 9:43-50
"Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you." (Luke 9:50)I want to spend more time with these words.
As you may know, there are Christian groups that I do not identify with.
To use the disciples’ words, ‘I am not one of them’.
Conversely, they are not one of me and my ‘group’ either.
Though I refuse to belong to a specific ‘group’, I still have my kind of people.
If I reject the evangelical label, that makes me an ex-vangelical.
This is a group of people I am more comfortable with, my group.
I belong to a specific church, and I am ‘one of them’.
There are others who’ve left this church; they are no longer ‘one of us’.
My point is, all of us, including me, have our own US and THEM.
And how do I relate to those who do not belong to my US.
Jesus says that I need to leave them alone.
More than that, do not try to stop them.
They are seeking to serve Jesus, and so am I.
They should not stop me, and I should not stop them.
This doesn’t mean that they have to agree with me.
Nor do I have to agree with them – even though I think they’re wrong.
They are not against me just because they are different from me.
Being against each other is a worldly spirit.
Instead each of us needs to humbly be for Jesus.
That is, my focus is on being sure I am going in the right direction.
No doubt they have their issues, but so do I.
And their issue to me is a splinter; my own issue is a plank (Matthew 7:3-5).
There are people out there who insist that my views are wrong.
This should not surprise me, and I should not let it anger me.
To be humble and gracious is to be open to learn, even from them.
Jesus can be using their perspective to show me ways I need to grow.
Similarly, I can insist their views are wrong (I do that here in my blog).
So long as I am not attacking them or organizing against them, that is fine.
We need to learn how to speak and listen with humility and grace.
We can disagree, but we cannot forcefully silence or reject them.
Romans 14 is an excellent passage that talks about this.
There Paul talks about those whose beliefs or views are weak.
“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” (Romans 14:1-5)
“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.” (Romans 14:13)
A disputable matter is not an indifferent, trivial matter.
It is a matter that is disputed, a different way of reasoning.
Paul gives the Sabbath debate as an example, one of the 10 commandments.
Would anyone say that the 10 commandments are trivial?
These are real disputes about morality and perspectives on truth.
Each one thinks that the other person’s logic is weak.
So what should we do about them: ACCEPT THEM!
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (Romans 15:7)
Accept them just like Jesus accepts us, with our own weak views.
And focus on my own areas of weakness and growth.
My job is not to criticize others for how they do not follow Jesus.
My job is to set them an example for how I do follow Jesus.
Jesus will judge me and them, for He is our Lord… I am not.
Let the others follow Jesus as they feel led to do it.
Trust that Jesus will continue to work graciously in them, as He does in me.
Do not stop them, pray for them.
And show them by your own example how you think Jesus should be followed.
The day will come when we both discover that we still had a lot to learn.
On that day we will see the weakness of our own perspectives.
And we will see the strength of God’s grace in Jesus, who accepted us anyway.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am not stronger than other Jesus followers that I disagree with. I am just weaker in different areas than them. I need Your humility and grace as I relate to the people and groups that I do not belong with. Help me to focus more on my own plank, than on the splinters in others. Help me to spend less time challenging others, and more time challenging myself.