“John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw a man using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t one of our group.’  ‘Don’t stop him!’ Jesus said.  ‘No one who performs miracles in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me.  Anyone who is not against us is for us.  If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I assure you, that person will be rewarded’” – Mark 9:38-41 (New Living Translation).

“If you aren’t in my church, I won’t fellowship with you.”  “Anyone who doesn’t believe just like I believe is going to hell.”  “If you belong to another church besides one that is like mine, you aren’t a Christian.”  These are sectarian thoughts and attitudes, and Jesus hates them. 

Sectarianism says that if you don’t belong to my sect or group or church or denomination, you are a bad person.  You can’t possibly be good.  In fact, nothing you do can be seen in a positive light.  Even the good that you do must be bad, because you don’t belong to my group.

Only those who go to the Church of Christ are really Christians; only Baptists are true in their thinking; only Charismatic churches have the Holy Spirit; only non-denominational churches are true to the Bible.  If you don’t agree with my understanding about baptism, you’re automatically lost and going to hell.  If you don’t agree with my view of the end times, you can’t belong to God; if you disagree with my beliefs about spiritual gifts, you must be of the Devil; if you watch, read, or listen to that author or preacher, you must be a false prophet or disciple.

These types of thoughts are sectarian thoughts.  They are the thoughts that convey an inner attitude that no one except those in my church or sect could really be Christians.  It is the attitude that I am right and everyone else is wrong – no matter what the subject is.  It is the attitude that no one could possibly see a spiritual or doctrinal matter differently from me and still be saved.

I once attended a church in Germany like this.  They were “anti” everything, to include being anti-religious holidays.  In other words, they didn’t believe in celebrating traditional religious holidays like Easter since the Bible doesn’t explicitly tell us to do this.  One Easter Sunday my wife, Darla, brought a Lilly into the church and set it down up front.  A moment later she turned around and it was gone!  She was embarrassed by the church’s leader who publicly chided her for bringing a Lilly into the church building and told her that it was wrong to celebrate Easter.  Needless to say we didn’t stay in that church long! 

This type of condemning, sectarian attitude is precisely the kind of unloving behavior and thinking that Jesus condemns.  It isn’t that we aren’t supposed to seek the truth and stand on it.  Nor is it that we should be careless with God’s word or accept bad doctrine.  Nor is it that we aren’t to correct others that we feel are mistaken in their views if we truly feel led to do so.  We should always handle the word accurately and try to discern truth from error.  Jesus was FOR this.  He spoke truth; lived truth; and pointed out lies.  More than once he told the religious leaders that they were mistaken in their theology.  So obviously, we can too.

However, what Jesus hates is an “anti” attitude that conveys self-righteous sectarianism instead of love and concern.  Jesus' disciples displayed such an attitude, and Jesus corrected them because of it.  He told them NOT to stop a man from casting out demons in his name just because the man wasn’t from their group.  He said, “No one who performs miracles in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me” (See vs. 39). 

Jesus' words give us a great principle: People may be in error in some way, but if they are headed in the right direction (e.g., seeking to serve Jesus), God isn't upset with them.  To the contrary, he will reward them - - even if they only give a cup of cold water in his name.  It isn't that God doesn't care about error, it's that he is able to take the heart of a person who is bent toward him, and shape it to find the truth more fully.  No one who is seeking to sincerely serve Christ can remain in their error for long.  God will show them the truth and bring them along to the place where they need to be in their doctrine or thinking.  And if they do remain in error, it is not up to us to condemn them to hell for it.  We must leave judgment of these matters to God.  Meanwhile, we should rejoice in the fact that the person is at least not speaking evil of Christ and the possibility that they are being used of God to his glory. 

I am not Catholic and view much of their doctrine as gravely mistaken and even destructive, but I rejoice in the life of Mother Theresa.  I am not Baptist and don't agree with all their views, but I stand in awe of how God has used Billy Graham.  I am not Charismatic, but readily rejoice in the dynamic ministry of T.D. Jakes.  I don't have to agree with all the views or doctrines of others to rejoice in the good they do in Jesus' name.  I may see inconsistency in their living, but can still be happy that they are impacting others for Jesus.  Paul rejoiced that the gospel was preached even by men who preached with selfish motives (See Philippians 1:15-18). Now this is not to say that we should not identify truly false prophets and warn others about them.  But let's face it, most of the time when we rail against other servants of Christ we aren't concerned about false prophets so much as making sure everyone else belongs to our group or sees everything just as we do.  The truth is that God is more concerned about our condemning, sectarian attitude than he is about a sincere follower of his who has some errors to correct to be doctrinally complete.