A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on July 20, 2025.
John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village (Luke 9:49–56).[1]
If ever there were evidence that God works in and through not our perfections but our weaknesses, Jesus’ disciples serve individually and collectively as a case study. Proving themselves to be faithless, useless, and clueless in their ministry,[2] they nevertheless began to bicker over which of them was the greatest. It sounds so silly but for the fact that we are sorely similar. But Jesus knew their hearts, as he does ours, and used the moment to teach them by the humble analogy of a child, saying, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great” (Luke 9:46-48). Greatness in the kingdom of God is not defined by what we do but who Christ is, and in Christ alone we find not only greatness defined and our greatest need fulfilled but also the brotherhood we share as Christ’s church.
Perhaps seeking to justify himself or simply for clarification of what Jesus meant by “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me,” John replied, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” We don’t know who the “someone” is but he was obviously not one of the twelve, leading John to point him out to Jesus. We may read John’s words as defensive, on behalf of Jesus, or jealous, witnessing ministry outside the fold, or something else altogether. But whatever the case, John’s distinction is territorial: There’s us and there’s him, who is not one of us, and because he is not one of us, he should not be doing what he is doing. But Jesus didn’t agree, saying, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”
When Jesus said, “you,” he wasn’t speaking only to John. The possessive pronoun is plural (better translated, as every Southerner knows, as “y’all”). The one whom John witnessed casting out demons in Jesus’ name, according to Jesus was not serving in opposition to Jesus’ ministry but as part of it. Though not an apostle, like John, the man was clearly a disciple, a follower of Christ, and serving in his name. But this was not how John saw it, and it’s often not how we see it either. Even in a faithful local church, we can fall prey to tunnel vision, leading to what Jack Miller calls an “ingrown church.” Miller explains,
Members of the ingrown church body are characterized by tunnel vision that limits potential ministries of the church to those that can be accomplished by the visible, human resources at hand. These possibilities are often further limited by recollections of past negative experiences and perceptions of present obstacles. At bottom, this is unbelief based on a secularized ignorance of the Spirit’s power—His ability to supply us with God’s goals for the church and the supernatural means to reach them.[3]
And as John learned, God may accomplish his goals through others alongside us or instead of us, because those who are not against us are for us.
Although we may not think of it in this context, we confess this truth almost every Sunday through one of the creeds. For example, we confess in the Nicene Creed that we believe in “one holy catholic and apostolic church.” The church, as the body of Christ, is “one,” as Christ himself is not divided,[4] and as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God, “the same in substance, equal in power and glory,”[5] so the church is not many but one. The church is also “holy” in that it is God’s temple, filled by his Spirit, and exists in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is “catholic,” or universal, in that it is international, found throughout the world, no longer confined to Israel, as under the old covenant, but advancing and extending to every tribe, tongue, and nation. And the church is “apostolic,” founded on the teaching and authority of Christ’s apostles.
Unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity are shared attributes of the church, and essential to her health. To emphasize unity and catholicity over apostolicity, for example, results in what Ralph Davis calls “soupy, sentimental ecumenism,” while emphasizing apostolicity and holiness over catholicity and unity results in “jealous, narrow provincialism.”[6] John likely fell into the latter, made all the more obvious by his later request to reign down fire from heaven upon those who rejected Christ.[7] But John’s question and sentiment are all too familiar to us, as we struggle to know at times who is for us and who is against us.
Serving as the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
So, let’s start with a point of discernment: Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven . . .” (Matt. 7:21a). Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is one. Some are confused, some are deceived, while others are masters of deception. But, Jesus said, “you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:20), as the apostle John would much later witness first hand in pastoral ministry, explaining how the church recognized false believers among them only when they left the church: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 john 2:19). What was not plain before became plain to all.
For this reason, we are responsible to exercise discernment, because, as Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23). Aligning with or supporting those who do not believe the gospel of Christ or who do not live in obedience to Christ or under his authority, should never be construed as unity. Like those who falsely claim to be Christians, there are so-called churches too who, as the Westminster Confession puts it, “have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan.”[8] They have become against us not for us in the Kingdom of God. How then do we know the difference between churches of Christ and synagogues of Satan?
Yet, there are true churches who do serve Christ but are different than we are. We know by their service to Christ, through Christ, in obedience to Christ, under the authority of Christ. What bothered John was the man was not one of the twelve, but what Jesus saw was one faithfully serving in his name.
There are churches who don’t subscribe to the Westminster Standards, who don’t sing psalms from the Trinity Hymnal, who don’t agree with us on the doctrines of grace, and who will argue with us over secondary and tertiary doctrinal concerns until Jesus comes again, and yet are part of Christ’s body, the one holy catholic and apostolic church. The man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name was part of the same church of Christ as John, whether he liked it in the moment or not. And in my flesh I often don’t like it either, but it does not negate the reality of the one body of Christ, of which we are a part. Nor does this truth negate our service in the local church. Jesus did not send John to begin serving with the man, but John continued serving as Jesus had called him.
And this, I think, serves as an important distinction, because the local church is not an island but a manifestation of the catholic, or universal, church. To be a member of a local church is to be a member of the universal. To serve in and through the local church is to serve in and through the universal. We are not in a competition with other local churches but gather as a local body of believers as part of the greater body of Christ. We are for not against those who are for not against Christ Jesus. We are for the gospel, not our territory not our turf, and if we are faithful to teach and embrace the doctrine of the gospel, and administer the sacraments and other ordinances, and to publicly worship faithfully, [9] we will find ourselves serving not alone but as the one holy catholic and apostolic church.
Trusting the Sovereignty of God
We believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest news in all creation, but that doesn’t mean everyone else does. We must be faithful to share the gospel with our neighbor and the nations, but we must also remember that believing the gospel is not the result of our persuasion but the sovereign grace of God. This is the case today, and it was the case even for those who met Jesus face-to-face. For example, when Jesus and his disciples travelled from Galilee to Judea they went through Samaria, stopping in a village where Jesus had planned to stay, but unlike his prior visit with the woman at the well, Luke records that “the people did not receive him” (Luke 9:53a). Though the Son of God and Savior of the world had come, they neither received nor believed on him.
But as a qualifier, as it were, Luke adds that the Samaritans did not receive Jesus, “because his face was set toward Jerusalem” (Luke 9:53b). As translated, it sounds like Jesus was too distracted to win their attention or affection, but that’s not what Luke means. To set one’s face to something is a Hebrew idiom, connoting determined intent. Jesus knew his time had come to suffer, die, and rise again, and he would not let anything deter him. But there is also in this statement a sense of God’s sovereign purpose in the Samaritan’s rejection. In other words, God’s purpose in this moment was not ministry among the Samaritans but the passion of his Son. The pinnacle of human history was fast approaching.
This may sound mysterious to us, as we are confined to time and space, and even then, as Paul pondered, “who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” (1 Cor. 2:16). But there are times when we think we know what the Lord could, should, and would do in a given situation only to be rewarded with the guilt of our presumption. How many times have I thought that I understood what God was up to only to learn how wrong I was. How easily we forget that God says,
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9).
We are not sovereign, but God is, which should lead us to trust him all the more.
Likewise, we must remember that in serving as Christ’s church, it is God who works in and through us, not of our own efforts but by the grace of God. When John saw that “someone” casting out demons in Jesus’ name, he didn’t see it as God at work, but Jesus knew that his Father is always at work. Paul reminded the church at Corinth of this, explaining, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6-7). Indeed, we plant; indeed, we water, but we must trust God and his sovereign purposes for the outcome. For, as the psalmist declares, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3). And what he pleases is his glory and our good, teaching us to trust him in all things.
Understanding the Grace of the Gospel
Luke tells us clearly that the Samaritan village was not Jesus’ final destination; Jerusalem was, and with significant purpose. Luke records, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). As he was sent so was his intent, onward to Jerusalem, to be “taken up” in the redemptive work for which he came, his death, resurrection, and ascension. What would unfold in Jerusalem came as no surprise to Jesus, as he would explain to Pontius Pilate, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).
Jesus did not come merely to be a good man, a good teacher, or serve as a good example, although he was all three. But he set his face to go to Jerusalem to die, because in his death, he who knew no sin became sin for us, “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Apart from the cross of Christ, we would still be dead in our sins and trespasses, not children of God but children of wrath. And apart from the cross of Christ, there would not be one holy catholic and apostolic church; there would be no one.
All of this, however, does not negate the guilt of the Samaritans’ rejection, leading the Sons of Thunder[10] to make the following request: “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luke 9:54). And why not? Such a spectacle would surely improve evangelism! But Jesus appropriately rebuked them, because he had come not to judge the world but to save it.[11] And while it is true that on the last day, “the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Pet. 3:10), God’s patience prevails even with those who reject Christ. Yes, God could rain down fire, but instead he is patient toward us, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). And in this truth, we understand the grace of the gospel, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
And so, serving as Christ’s church, alongside those who are for us, we advance the gospel to our neighbors and the nations, trusting God for the increase. For, as undeserving sinners saved only by the grace of God, we too desire others to receive the same. Indeed, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace [we] have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5). Such is the testimony of Christ’s church.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Luke 8:22-25; 9:22, 37-44
[3] C. John Miller, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 29.
[4] 1 Cor. 1:13
[5] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 6, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 360-361.
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[6] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2021), 163.
[7] Luke 9:54
[8] “The Confession of Faith” 25.5, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 127.
[9] Ibid. 25.4, 126.
[10] Mark 3:17
[11] John 12:47
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 