The Authority of Jesus

Series Introduction:

We want to study (and discuss) different characteristics of Jesus

Not just to know about him but to know him

Last Week:

Jesus is human

‘Incarnation’

The humility of Christ

The example of Christ

Life/Lifestyle

Scripture Reading:

Matthew Chapter 8

Right After the Sermon on the Mount (expound)

Not just wise teacher, but powerful Lord

Leper cleansed

Centurion’s servant healed

Peter’s mother-in-law healed

Jesus calming the storm

Jesus casting out demons

Ch9 - Jesus healing the paralyzed and forgiving sin

And so on

Centurion’s Faith

Matthew 8:5–10 (CSB)

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”

He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”

“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.

Matthew 8:13 (CSB)

Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.

Jesus Calms the Storm

Matthew 8:23–27 (CSB)

As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”

Jesus’s Authority

Authority

Authorship

Colossians 1:15–17 (CSB)

He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn over all creation.

For everything was created by him,

in heaven and on earth,

the visible and the invisible,

whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities—

all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things,

and by him all things hold together.

The Jesus we follow is not simply a wise man with good teachings

Or even just a righteous prophet with a word from God

Jesus has existed since before creation

Jesus is God

That being the case, Jesus not only calls us to live a life seeking after him

He has the power to enable us to do so

Often, I think we think too small of God

We think that God is rooting for us, but its up to ourselves to get our lives together

Or we think that God has compassion on us when we are suffering but doesn’t have the means to heal our hurts

Or we think that God desires we live a life of sin, but forget that in the power of Jesus, bondage and slavery can be shattered

God can work in your life

God can miraculously change your circumstances

God can bring instantaneous healing or deliverance

I think the thing we all struggle with and wrestle through is not the fact that God is all powerful

But we think: If God is all powerful, why do things not change?

Why does God say yes to some prayers and not to others?

Why God doesn’t change everything?

He knows whats best

Wisdom of God

2. He’s not a genie

He wants relationship

Eric - Wealthy Friend that helps out

These both point us to one of the key pillars of the Christian life:

Faith

The Importance of Faith

When talking about the authority/power of God it is so closely tied to faith

We live in a world that will tell us otherwise

The question isn’t “Can God do it?”, it is “Do you trust God, even if circumstances don’t change?”

Three Scriptures, Three Lessons

1. Test/Know our Intentions in seeking God’s Power

James 4:1–3 (CSB)

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

If God continually does not answer prayers we must consider our motives

Is it something that genuinely honors God, or just something we would like or that would make life easier?

Not that we can’t ask for things we would like but there is not a guarantee that God will give us those things

This way of asking and surrender is how we grow in trust

Paul was told no

2 Corinthians 12:7–9 (CSB)

Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

Jesus was told no

Luke 22:42 (CSB)

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Here is the important lesson about faith and prayer:

Prayer will sometimes change our circumstances, but it should always change our hearts

2. Power Comes Deep Relationship with Jesus

Transfiguration

Down the Mountain

Mark 9:17–18 (CSB)

Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.”

Jesus casts out demon

Mark 9:28–29 (CSB)

After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

Prayer

Not that he said enough words

Not that he said the right words

But he spoke words by faith

Prayer builds faith

Prayer builds relationship

Prayer builds trust

In Matthew’s Gospel the same story shed in a different light:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 17

19 Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”,

Here is the second truth:

True Power in the Christian life comes from a deep relationship with Jesus

Not in our moral performance, not in saying the right words, but knowing Jesus as a person

3. God’s Power is not for Our Gain

Philippians 2:5–6 (CSB)

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

who, existing in the form of God,

did not consider equality with God

as something to be exploited.

Miraculous power is not to be exploited or used for our own gain

The sole purpose in it all is to glorify God, not draw attention to ourselves

Miracles are not a sign of spiritual maturity, character is

Like Jesus says:

Matthew 7:21–23 (CSB)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

I think one of the most under appreciated miracles in the Christian life is a transformed life

I used to love to sin, now I cant stand it

I used to hate these people, now I have compassion for them

I used to think I was better than other people, now I have been humbled

That truly is a miracle

So the third truth:

True Christian power brings glory to God, not to ourselves

Conclusion

We love and serve the creator of the universe

He works in ways we can’t understand but we know he is all-powerful and all-knowing

He knows whats best and he can do it

Isaiah 55:9 (CSB)

“For as heaven is higher than earth,

so my ways are higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So we must have these truths in balance

That God can work in miraculous ways

And that God sometimes says no

I have seen literal miracles

Eye healing

I have seen emotions provoked for a miracle and nothing happens

God works on his own terms, and is not a genie to be manipulated

In order to grow in a spirit-filled powerful Christian life, we must start somewhere

James 4:1–3 (CSB)

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Start small

It can seem stupid

Look for God

Retrace his grace

Be willing to accept no as an answer

Luke 16:10 (CSB)

Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.

Watch God be faithful in the small things

Stressed deadlines for schoolwork

Encouraging a friend

Saying no to a temptation (a single temptation)

And you will see that He is faithful and powerful in the big things