Message summary: Let us dig wells and experience the blessing of a cooperative ministry outlook.

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“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in My name can in the next moment say anything bad about Me, for whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:38-40).

We get our water from a well behind our house. In the 24 years we have lived here the well has never run dry, for which we are thankful to God! As of this morning there are still 1,602 PPL (our power company) customers in Lancaster County without power. In this storm we did not lose power but when we do we lose water as well since the pump takes electricity!

I once heard an interesting illustration at a chaplain training conference.  The speaker told how ranchers use several methods to keep steers together out west. Some ranchers build fences to keep the livestock in but it is quite expensive and requires a lot of maintenance. Others dig a deep watering hole filled with sufficient water. They’ve learned that the livestock will stay near the source of water.

This analogy is helpful concerning our outlook toward ministry. As we view our service for Christ and our spiritual impact on others we can either focus on building fences or digging wells.

Some churches and Christian organizations use their resources to build fences. Those who have this outlook see other churches and similar ministries as competition and a threat to their existing work. Sadly, a great percentage of time, energy, and expense is expended in merely building and maintaining the fences.

Other churches and Christian organizations use their resources digging wells to provide spiritual living water. This is surely a much more Christ-honoring strategy as we dig wells and encourage the partaking of life-giving water that people desperately need in the spiritually “sun-scorched land” in which we live.

I like that attitude in life, particularly in regard to ministry. I don’t always see it though. Some churches, denominations and ministries are petty and exclusive. We once worked for a chaplain service company that saw their “ministry” model as proprietary and any other similar expression posed a threat. But great churches and effective ministries whose major interest is the kingdom of God want to see His kingdom expanded, not restricted, or reflective only of their influence.

Today’s verse has long intrigued me. The disciples had seen a man driving out demons in Christ’s Name and told him to stop, apparently thinking they, alone, were doing the Lord’s work. The problem, they expressed, was that "he was not one of us". That is; he was not one of the Twelve. They must have had a sense of having a proprietary use of His Name!

We wonder where this man driving out demons was from? Other Scriptures tell us that Christ had sent out the seventy and after His resurrection there were 120 who came together in the Upper Room. So there were others who spread the Gospel and performed miracles when Christ dwelt on this earth although He ministered primarily with the twelve disciples.

Where this man fit in is not specified, but apparently John and the other disciples saw his ministry as a threat. They reported this to the Lord and I think they had expected the Lord to pat them on the back and say with a smile and a nod, “Good job, boys.”

But instead Christ essentially rebuked the disciples by saying, "Do not stop him".  He also set forth a great spiritual principle, "Whoever is not against us is for us". Now, in all honesty, I do not fully understand all of what Christ is saying here but I do know that it is a strong rebuke against any proprietary or exclusive outlook of ministry.

I want to bless the many others who are serving Christ today. There are many ways we serve and some have ministries similar to ours. May the Lord bless them! We want to encourage and assist them if possible. We want them to reach many for Christ that we will never reach.

That’s how Brooksyne and I want our life and ministry to be regarded and we encourage you to have the same attitude, whatever type of ministry you have. If our ministry is like a well and we are a “well-watered garden” we will draw others in and make the spiritual impact upon them that God has called us to do. Let us dig wells and experience the blessing of a cooperative ministry outlook.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber