10.01.2023 - Authority and Obedience

Scripture: Matthew 21 23-32

Matthew 21:23–32 NIV

23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

10/1/2023

Order of Service:

Announcements

Kid’s Time

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Receiving New Members (at North only)

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Communion

Closing Song

Benediction

Children’s Moment:

Authority and Obedience

Grace and then Obedience

God saved the ancient Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and death at the hands of Pharaoh and his army. When God parted the Red Sea for them to cross over and then dropped the waves back upon their enemies, the Hebrews were officially free from and cut off from their past. At that moment, they were a new people, a new nation, and a new creation.

They celebrated their newfound freedom and life with shouts of joy, singing, and dancing. Then, as the night settled and they began to look for a place to sleep, some of them started to wonder,

“How shall we live?”

Moses brought down 10 Commandments from the mountain, and with celebration, sacrifice, and discipline, they pledged themselves to God and one another. However, despite everything, they continue to rebel against God. Of the millions of people who crossed the Red Sea, only two made it to the Promised Land. They were witnesses of the power of God and yet struggled to trust him.

Following Jesus is not just one step. It is a lifetime of steps. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a lifelong learner and allow Him to teach us the whole way.

It starts with God’s grace, which we learned about last month.

During spring and summer, baby geese hatched from their eggs and learned to eat, grow, swim, and play. Last June, Bekah and I watched several mother geese try to corral a group of baby geese along the canal at White River State Park in Indianapolis. A couple of baby geese decided to swim off on their own, ignorant of the people and dogs walking on the sidewalks beside them. Those mother geese spent much time tracking down those wandering babies and keeping them out of trouble.

Soon, those geese will fly away for the winter, following a leader who keeps them together to help them reach their new destination. God gave them their wings, their parents taught them to fly with them, and they will choose to follow their leader or go off on their own. Good leaders, like those good mothers, have the grace to slow the pace or adjust the flight so that all the geese have an opportunity to follow.

God’s grace gives us the opportunity to follow Him, and we acknowledge God's authority by our obedience.

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God is in charge. We are not.

In order to learn, you have to accept authority. Authority means allowing someone else to determine good or bad, right or wrong. In our scripture today, Jesus had exercised His authority in Jerusalem. He kicked out the merchants from the Temple and taught there daily. He was still healing people and casting out demons. The Temple leaders were upset and confronted Jesus. They wanted to know who gave Him the authority to do the things He was doing.

In response to this interrogation, Jesus asked them where they thought John the Baptist got his authority to preach and baptize at the Jordan River. This is why the chief priests and elders were so confounded. John was very popular among the Jewish people, and some leaders had gone down to see him. If they upheld his teaching, they had to admit that they were wrong about Jesus and accept his authority. But Jesus was teaching that they had been doing things wrong for generations.

Jesus never taught His disciples to go back in time because we cannot go back far enough to find perfection. We can only go forward, one step at a time. This doesn’t have to do with technology or culture changes. It has to do with the fact that the steps we took yesterday got us to where we are today. The choices we made and the responses we had to the world around us generations ago brought us right here.

Some of those steps may have been faithfully following Jesus. Others may have been good attempts. There may have been a few where we just gave up trying to follow Him and decided to do our own thing. That is why Jesus keeps calling us back to follow Him from wherever we are.

Jesus doesn’t tell us to go back. Instead, He taught us how to live under His authority today. He broke it down with one of the simplest and most profound parables: The Parable of the Two Sons.

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Obedience in Word and Deed.

This short parable does not woo us with pretty word pictures or dramatic storytelling. This is Jesus getting straight to the point. Would you like to talk about where authority comes from?

Using the three levels of interpretation we learned about last week, we can go through this very quickly. God is the Father in this parable. Everyone else is either the first or the second son. Which one are you?

The trouble with this parable is that Jesus does not leave us a “good” answer to choose. The first son did not say the right things but changed his mind and did them. The second son said the right things but never followed through with his actions. Adding a third child who said and did all the right things is tempting, but the story's point is not figuring out how to make the perfect child. It is figuring out which child got it right in the end.

The key word in this entire passage is “repentance.” It is translated here twice as changing one’s mind, and it reminds us that you can repent toward Jesus (in a good way), and you can also repent and turn away from Jesus. And, as important as our words are, our actions might be more important. Our actions speak the truth even if our words do not.

Like schoolchildren, we have much to learn, and it takes some of us longer to learn some things than others. We don’t expect everyone to go from preschool to graduating college in one day. We might be a little suspicious if that happened. Rather, we give each other the grace to learn what we need to know today so that we are in the right place and ready to learn the things that need to wait until tomorrow or next year. But the end is the same for all of us. We want to grow into healthy, mature disciples of Jesus - remade in His image.

Some people will tell you that you get saved by Jesus by making one decision, and then you sin for the rest of your life, but it doesn’t count against you. They might tell you that nothing you do matters after that. But that is not true. Like the first son, they must repent and do what God asks.

Or, like the Jewish leaders, some people will tell you that you need to manage your sin. Keep it small, keep it private, and keep it hidden. Make routine acknowledgment that you are not perfect but not as bad as others. These are like the second son, who says the right things but doesn’t do them. They also need to repent and have their actions match their words.

I have been drawn into Wesley’s understanding of growth in grace because we understand that Jesus truly is an answer to the problem of sin. We are not stuck in the messes we make for our entire lives. God, in His grace, helps us to move with Him out of those places of brokenness one step at a time. But we will only follow Jesus from sin and death to new life with Him if we accept His authority over our lives.

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Growing God’s Authority in You

Repentance is not a one-time thing. It is something we do many times a day. And it is only sometimes a complete turnaround. Other times, it is a more minor change in orientation. Whether the changes are big or small, repentance is a change that helps us to follow Jesus a little closer.

When you first came to Jesus, confessed your sin, and asked for forgiveness, there may have been one or two specific sins that weighed heavily on your heart. The next time, you may have had a different sin you were dealing with. Sometimes, old sins come back, and we must bring them to Jesus again to let them go. Other times, we discover new areas in our lives that we have not given over to Jesus.

God sent Jesus to be a living example of how we are to live and to be that authority in our lives. We don’t have to figure out how to get there ourselves. All Jesus asks us to do is to follow Him one step at a time. Sometimes, those steps are small, as we are young in our faith and learning to recognize His presence. Other times, they are bigger and require more effort or planning. We don’t have to return to a particular place or time to follow Jesus. He wants to lead us from right where we are today.

What is Jesus telling you to do today?

How do you need to repent (or change your mind or heart) to do it?

For some, God is not bringing anything new to our minds today. He is reminding us of the last thing He asked us to do that we have not done. If that is you, how must you repent (or change your mind and heart) to do it?

Every step of obedience, big or small, brings you closer to Jesus and further from sin.

Take a moment and ask God what your next step of obedience is.

(pause)

(Lead into Apostles’ Creed and Holy Communion)

Apostle's Creed Communion Liturgy

As we join together to remember who we are and who God is shaping us to be, let us share the foundation of our faith from the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended into hell;

on the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;

from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Amen.

We have professed our faith in God. We know who He is. Now we confess who we are. We admit that we are sinners, who, on our own are not worthy and are unable to come to God’s table. (pause)

And yet, Christ invites us to do the very thing we are unable to do. Live life with Him. As we come to this table, we remember that at the Last Supper, he took bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat. This is my body, broken for you, for the forgiveness of sin. Do this in remembrance of me.”

After the supper He lifted up the cup, gave thanks to God, and shared it with His disciples, saying, “Take and drink. This is my blood, poured out for the New Covenant. Do this in remembrance of me.”

As we join those disciples together, we receive that forgiveness and join in that covenant relationship with Jesus.

Lord, pour out Your Holy Spirit on us gathered here in the name of Jesus. As we partake in this bread and juice, may we remember the most precious gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus that you have given for us. Forgive us. Cleanse us. Make us holy. Make us Yours. Make us one with each other and one in service to You. May the grace You give us and the work You do in us spread beyond us as You make us once again into Your Church as you send us to the nations and call your lost children home.