Mark 9:38 (NET) 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, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me. 40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For I tell you the truth, whoever gives you a cup of water because you bear Christ’s name will never lose his reward.
Whoever is not against us
It is not true in every area of life that whoever is not against us is for us. It is not a universal principle. In the case of Jesus, however, he confronts us with such clear truth, we must decide.
One of three decisions must be made about Jesus. We must accept him for who he says he is, the God of the universe, reject him by turning away or reject him by turning him into something he is not.
Many today choose the third way and turn him into a hippie Jesus who loves and accepts everyone without calling them to follow him in a radical way. They comfort themselves with a hippie Jesus who makes no demands, who asks for no commitment, who is only about peace and love. That Jesus is a myth, an idol.
He came to divide
In Luke 12:49-53, he said, “I have come to bring fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
With Jesus, we must decide. He leaves us no other choice. That is why he says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” That is why Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:12, “All who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
When people choose to live in darkness, truth divides and light threatens. Because Jesus is the truth, he is the dividing line. He came to bring division, not peace.
Dana Roseman's Thoughts on Scripture 