The spirit of exclusion Luke 9:49 Master, said John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us. 50 Do not stop him, Jesus said, for whoever is not against you is for you. Many believers do not yet understand the concepts of Gods kingdom even when they are born again, and they still try to apply the concepts of this world to the detriment of the church. I use the word believers because these were the disciples of Jesus, who had sat under the teachings of the master, had been bestowed upon divine power and authority to cast out devils and heal the sick. Yet when they saw a man doing what they were doing in the name of Jesus, they turned blue with jealousy and forbade him from doing so. Friends, God will set offend your mind to reveal your heart. Why, for instance, were the disciples troubled that someone else could do what they did? The tendency to exclude others is a common feature in the body of Christ, thinly camouflaged as an anointed or favored group culture. This culture has evolved in to what we are today witnessing- celebrity Stars working for God. We have clusters of groups where people in search of the living God either feel rejected or out of place. And it may not necessarily be spoken, but rather a developed culture pervading that set of group so unpenetretable.- it starts off as a clique before it turns into a cult- hero worship. The understanding of the Jew concerning the kingdom of God was an earthly kingdom that would come and uproot them from the Roman authoritarian kingdom and set one like the kingdom of David. Their rebuke to this man could therefore easily have emanated from their own insecurities for positions of influence in this new kingdom. Anyone who attempted to do what was their domain had to be thrown out! But Jesus graciously turned their focus from Me and Our minded ness to Gods kingdom minded ness. The primary concern of Gods kingdom is not to cast away but to gather, not to abuse but to tender the sheep. The key to always remember, according to Jesus, is that the kingdom is not our kingdom, but of our God, and our focus on God will galvanize us all together.May this be our central focus in the kingdom. Shalom
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:13:26 +0000
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