With or Against

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

WITH OR AGAINST

 

Luke 11:23

23 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

NIV

This is still in response to the charge that he cast out the evil spirit by the power of Satan, rather than by the finger of God. However, as with all of what Jesus said here, there are truths that we need to consider and how this can apply to our lives. There are only two kingdoms that exist. One is the kingdom of this dark world; the other is the kingdom of God. We could see that as the kingdom of good and the kingdom of evil. The question is whether being a Christian means we are with Jesus. Again, as we have thought many times before the title Christian is palatable to the world, and, in fact, many call themselves Christians who have no idea what being born again or Spirit-filled or following Jesus truly means. So then, what does Jesus mean when he said if we are not with Him we are against him. Then he uses a parallel about gathering or scattering. Of course, we are not suggesting some who call themselves Christians are in reality with Satan and thus against Jesus. However, the facts are clear, we have to serve somebody, either we are going to serve Jesus, or serve Satan, but we are going to serve somebody, to sort of quote that song by Bob Dylan. What then does it mean to be with Jesus and to be a gatherer? That implies that being with Jesus is to follow him and do what he does, gathering by shedding light into this dark world preaching the good news about the kingdom of God. We think about what Jesus said about his coming not for the righteous, but for the sick. We wonder if we have gotten into that attitude of  "Us four and no more", meaning we simply come to church once or maybe twice a week and spend time with other Christians, trying to be nice to each other, but have failed to gather with Jesus, by going outside the church and sharing the good news of the kingdom of God. We also wonder if we don’t do some scattering, even within the church when we think of how much damage is done by gossip, being critical, judgmental, or being prideful or boastful. Over the years we have seen people leave the church because of unresolved conflicts. How is that gathering and thus how is that being with Jesus? This also takes us back to the man who wanted to justify himself by asking Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”, as we ponder on loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we love others, both inside and outside the church, then we would not want them to live in the kingdom of Satan but would want to tell them about the good news of the kingdom of God, and thus be a gatherer and being with Jesus. We also understand that those who live in the kingdom of Satan have generated this idea of not being offensive by talking about the kingdom of God, or about Jesus. However, because we love them, we need to get past being offensive and meet them where they are, telling them about the good news of the kingdom of God. If we can do that, we will be gathering with Jesus. Then we can answer the question of whether we are with or against. That sounds harsh, but is it true?