Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Who Has Authority Over My Life?”*

Mark 1:14-28                                                                       Pastor Bruce Dick – BEFC

Pt. 3 of /“Who is Jesus and Why it Matters?”

/                March 25, 2007

            I sometimes struggle with authority.

I don’t know how you respond to that word – authority – but sometimes I struggle and chafe under it like a child does the straps in a car seat.

Last summer when we were on vacation, we spent a day in the Black Hills, seeing Mt.

Rushmore and other sites.

We’d had a long day of sight-seeing and enjoyed Mt.

Rushmore and the Rushmore caves.

But it was hot, like 90 degrees hot.

And we’re done and we’re in the van and if you know that area, there are a lot of hills and with the 6 of us, luggage and tired bodies and emotions, our journey up and down these hills was mirrored by the emotions of the people in the van.

The speed limit in those hills was 45 which I took to be a bit relative.

I mean you had to make the van work to get up those hills at 45, and you had to be on the brakes to keep it that way going down.

We get through the hills and are just coming back into this little resort town, finally on flat ground and who is waiting there for me as we enter town – none other than a friendly SD Highway Patrol officer.

He explains that I was speeding 10 mph over the speed limit and that the fine would be about $89!

But for some reason, and maybe he saw the exasperated looks on my face and my counterparts in the van, he let us go with a warning, which we took gladly.

By then we were too hot and tired to really care, but dad was happy to have saved $89.

So we continue on.

We’re headed to Sentinel Butte, ND that night to stay w~/ some friends and things calm down; the a~/c is working, we get some food and the travel is good.

We just crossed the ND border and stopped  for gas and some snacks; the sun is getting low on the horizon and we have about 90 minutes of driving left; this will be just fine; everyone is happy and snacking on licorice and drinking PowerAde.

As I was leaving town, the sign said 25 mph; no problem – I’ve been stopped once; not again.

Just about 200 yards ahead was a sign that said, 45 mph.

I’m in no hurry, so I think, /“I’ll just slowly accelerate to 45 and be there just as I hit the sign.”/

Well, about 25 yards before the 45 mph sign; guess who’s waiting in the ditch?!

I can’t believe it!

Twice in one day.

I honestly thought I was doing just great; I was relaxed, cool, and happy.

That all changed in 3 seconds.

He comes to the door and makes his little speech and explains that /“No, you must drive 25 until the 45 sign and THEN you can accelerate.”/

Well, we must not have looked exasperated enough, so this time we get a ticket for speeding.

But boy do I love good old North Dakota; the fine was a whopping $10!  Authority, bah humbug!

*Authority*; sometimes I just love it and sometimes I just hate it.

But do you struggle with authority?

Do you hate it when people order you around in school, giving you all this homework; don’t they understand that you have other classes too and that they all have given homework too?

And besides, you have track practice and piano to practice.

Authority!

Don’t you struggle at work sometimes when your day is all neatly planned and you’re mentally prepared for the day and it all falls apart?

The boss asks you to do this project for him or her; then someone has called in sick and you have to pick up her slack; and to make matters worse, you have to stay late and when you get home, everyone is starved and there’s no supper anytime soon.

Authority.

We have all been in situations where we struggle with authority.

This morning, the gospel writer Mark is going to show us someone who has authority, and I mean to tell you, real authority.

His authority changes people’s lives.

His authority challenges conventional wisdom and the status quo; his authority was like the old EF Hutton commercials a generation ago that said, /“When EF Hutton speaks…people listen.”/

I still remember that slogan 30 years later.

This person, Jesus Christ, has authority is going to present a challenge to us today – *who has authority over my life*?

Do I?  Does someone else?  Does He?  Who should?

Who tells me what to do?  Who tells me what to think or where to go or when to do it?

Do I trust anyone but myself to do that?

Jesus Christ is going to begin to demonstrate his authority today in a way that blew his listeners totally out of the water.

But it also left them with a choice:  *who has authority over my life*?

When you leave this morning, you are going to be given the opportunity to answer that question for yourself and for this church as a whole.

Who has authority over my life?

Who has authority over this church?

Do I?  Do we?  Let me give you a statement that I want you to really chew on:  *The extent to which you will grow is determined exclusively by who you give authority over your life to.

*Another way of saying that is this:  /You will never grow beyond the level of the person you give authority of your life to./

If you are the ultimate authority in your life; you are limited to the amount of growth that you yourself can produce.

If you give authority of your life to your boss, you are limited to the growth that he or she has.

Who has authority of your life?

Your growth hinges on that choice.

To find the best answer to the question, take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark, chapter 1, verses 14-28.

Mark 1:14-28, which is *page 836* in the pew Bibles.

Mark 1:14-28.

READ.

In these two “episodes,” Jesus demonstrates that he is the one with real authority in two areas and that he can be totally trusted.

He has authority to be *followed* and he has the authority to be *believed*.

He has such authority within him and in who he is that when he says, “/Follow me/,” there is no hesitation on the part of those called; they drop everything to follow.

I could count on one hand the number of people in my life that I would drop everything to follow and none that I can think of today that I would do so immediately.

That’s huge authority.

But he will also demonstrate that he has authority to be believed.

If you don’t believe what someone has to say, you sure won’t drop everything and follow him.

And there are very few people that I know that I would believe everything they say.

Jesus had that kind of authority.

Take a look again at what happens in verses 14-20; this is where I get the notion that he has authority to be followed.

Mark, as we said each of the last two weeks, is going to be very brief; he only tells you what is most important to advance his agenda – /Who is Jesus and why does it matter?

/ Last week, we gave a brief rundown of John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism and temptation.

Today is much the same.

Time has gone by; Mark has skipped over some things to make his point.

John has been arrested and Jesus heads into the northern area called Galilee, his home territory.

And Jesus is preaching, specifically “/proclaiming the gospel of God.”/  Do you remember what we said “gospel” meant?

It means “good news” or to them, “/Good news about the emperor.”/

But this good news is the good news of God.

And Jesus’ message is real simple; it makes two statements and makes two demands.

*The two statements*:  the time is fulfilled – an era has ended and been completed and my presence here tells you that – and the kingdom of God is at hand – it has been coming and it’s right here at the doorstep of your lives.

*The two demands* (and both are needed; they are like the two sides of one coin):  REPENT – turn from what you are and what you have been doing; change your mind; feel remorse; let go of what you are clinging to – and BELIEVE – put your faith in the gospel, the good news; trust it.

But you can’t have one without the other.

This would be like a man floating in the ocean, clinging to a piece of driftwood from his broken and sunk sailboat.

A rescue boat comes by to pick him up and they toss him a floating ring on a rope.

But in order to be rescued, he is going to have to let go of his driftwood in order to grab on to the life ring.

But he yells, /“I believe you can rescue me, but I just want to hold on to my driftwood.”/

To repent is to admit that what we are thinking will save us will not; to change our mind about where our fate lies.

To believe is to trust, and to cling to what really will save us, what will forgive our sins and change our lives.

But so many times today people will believe, but continue to cling to the drift wood of their lives.

There’s no change; there’s no course correction; they will not trust in the authority of the rescuer, Jesus Christ to save.

And as a result, clinging to the old and the new, they remain caught in the sea of life, kept from real rescue.

Jesus says, /“It’s time; with me comes the kingdom; admit that what you have held to is not enough and trust me.

I’ll take care of you.

I’ll change your life.”/

That’s a simple, yet revolutionary message.

Now it is time to put this into action.