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The question of distinguishing our friend and foe depends on whether the person is the enemy of God, “For he that is not against us is on our part.” (v40)
(gospel partners—serve others in Jesus’ name)
Mark 38-41 is a continuation of the previous conversation about “who is the greatest”, only that it focuses on the issue of doing things “in the name of Jesus”. In 9:37, Jesus said, “Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me.” Then John told Jesus of a particular experience, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us; and we forbade him, because he followeth not us.” (v38) This issue was raised by John because he doubted if someone might have misused the name of the Lord to drive out demons. It sounds like he wanted Jesus to confirm that they were doing the right thing on behalf of Jesus in that instance. It is quite understandable that the disciples would forbid others doing miracles in Jesus’ name. They might think that only they were given the authority and the power by Jesus to drive out devils. Anyone else doing such things thus were not authorized to do so. But Jesus corrected their erroneous judgment and said, “Forbid him not; for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.(因為沒有人奉我名行異能，反倒輕易毀謗我)” (v39) There was rare chance to find someone perform miracles to help others in Jesus' name. On the contrary, there were a lot of people insulting the name of the Lord.
Has not Jesus given authority only to the 12 disciples to drive out devils? Why would someone else possess such power? As a matter of fact, according to Luke 9:1, Jesus “called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” At a later time, Luke 10:1 says, “Jesus again appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come (往自己所要到的各城、各地方去).” The instructions he gave the 12 disciples (Luke 9:3-5) were the same as those given to the 70 disciples (Luke 10:4-11). Nevertheless, there was no mention of driving out devils, only preaching and healing the sick: “heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” (Luke 10:9) However, Luke 10:17 says, “the seventy returned again with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.’ ” And Jesus replied to the 70 disciples, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19) Therefore, the authority that the 70 disciples received from Jesus included the power to conquer the devils. Probably, John and the other disciples have seen some of these 70 disciples casting out devils.
Jesus said, “For he that is not against us is on our part.” (v40) The 12 disciples saw the other disciples as foes just because “he followeth not us” (v38). But Jesus saw them as his partners or co-workers, who were also doing God’s work in the name of the Lord and glorifying God. There were no reasons to stop them from doing God’s work.
Jesus continued, “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.” (v41) This verse speaks of serving the believers in the name of Jesus. He is actually serving God, as Jesus said in verse 37—“Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.” When everything is done in the name of Jesus, it is an act of glorifying God. God remembers all the major and minor things that we do on His behalf (even as minor as giving a cup of water), and He will reward us in the end--more so when we express God's love on our brothers and sisters in the Lord!
(gospel enemies--offend others or oneself)
Mark 9:37-41 stresses the point of receiving or serving others in the name of the Lord. In particular, verse 41 speaks of serving the believers. That’s a rewarding message. Mark 9:42-48 stresses the opposite point, offending others and oneself. Its serious consequence is also presented; thus, this is a warning message.
“And whosoever shall offend (使跌倒) one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” (v42) If a person offends a believer or makes him fall into sin, this is a very serious sin. The offender will receive serious judgment. Jesus did not elaborate on the kind of sin that the person committed. However, if we examine his saying in verses 43-48, we can be sure that he meant the sin of causing the believer to sin and depart from God. Let’s see what he said in verses 43-48.
The passage of verses 43-48 focuses on offending oneself. Jesus used “offend thee” 3 times. (v43,45,47) The cause of one offending himself is that certain part of his body such as hand, foot and eye makes him sin. The outcome is very serious because it has to do with eternal life and eternal death. Jesus mentioned “enter into life” (v43,45) and “enter into the kingdom of God” (v47). At the same time, he mentioned “go into hell” (v43,45) or “cast into hell fire” (v37). What is the plight of the hell? The hell is described as going “into the fire that never shall be quenched” (v43,45), “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (v44,46,48).
In the parable of Luke 16:19-31, Jesus describes a little bit about the feeling of being in heaven and in hell. The main characters in the parable are the beggar Lazarus and the rich man. When both of them departs the world, Lazarus is “carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” whereas the rich man is “tormented” in hell fire. His minor request is asking Abraham to “send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame”. It tells us here that the hell is a place of unquenchable fire, as described in Mark 9.
Back to Mark 9. Jesus warned people to be concerned for their own eternity. In case any part of your body causes you to sin so deeply that you cannot get out of the sinful plight, you’d better forsake that part of your body to get yourself out of the sinful plight. “It is better for thee to enter into life maimed” (v43) than to go to hell with the whole body not maimed. No matter what, you have to remove all the obstacles that may lead you to hell at all costs.
(Conclusion)
Jesus used the function of “salt” to conclude his message: “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it (可用甚麼叫它再鹹呢)?” (v49-50) Verse 49 is not easy to interpret and understand (refer to ‘Note’ below). Anyway, both verses 49 & 50 stress the function of salt. Jesus has said in the Sermon on the Mount that we are “the salt of the earth”. He says, “Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor (“taste” in NRSV), wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matt 5:13) The message matches Mark 9:49-50 as both claim that the function of salt is to season the food to make it salty and tasteful. By the same token, the believer is supposed to make others feel good by receiving or serving them with the love of Christ. If he loses such function, he will become useless and cannot bear any spiritual fruit, like the fate of the fig tree in Mark 11:12-14. There Jesus in his hunger searched for fruit on the fig tree but found none. Then he cursed the fruitless fig tree, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.” The fate of the fig tree was that it withered and never grew anymore. (Mark 11:20)
Jesus’ final word for the disciples was: “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” (v50) Col 4:6 has a similar use of salt to pacify one another, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” (你們的言語要常常帶著和氣，好像用鹽調和。) This final word seems to ward off the internal struggle of the disciples fighting for the greatest seat at the beginning of the conversation (v34).
Note
Verse 49: “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” Below is the interpretion from one of the Bible commentaries. First of all, Lev 2:13 says, “And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” There are 3 interpretations for verse 49:
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God is going to torment the unbelievers in eternal fire, like sacrifice being salted with salt.
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God will season the believers (living sacrifices) with fiery trials to purify their faith, like the Old Testament priests salted the animal sacrifices.
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God will subject everyone to fiery trials, both believers and unbelievers. This is part of our lives.
(Source: http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/htm/NT/Mark/Mark.htm)