Authority

Good Morning

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Talk about the Men’s Retreat

Today we are going to look at authority. We are going to be in Mark 1:21-28.

In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow." "Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out. The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship. The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'" Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees." The captain said, "Send: "I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'" "I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees." By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'" Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse." We changed course.

When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.

"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?" "Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person." "But I'm starved," the governor said. "Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer." Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. "Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state." "Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister."

We all have some form of authority that is over us. Even the mighty battleship has to bow to the authority of the lighthouse. The President of the United States of American, once considered the most power man in the world, has to answer to the US Congress. Even Jesus, while He was here on earth, bowed to the will of His father. Who is the authority in your life? If you call yourself a believer, then it should be Jesus! Why should Jesus be the absolute authority in your life? We are going to look at 2 of those reasons today. 1 - because of how He taught. 2 - because of His power over the demons. Let’s read our verses and see His authority.

Mark 1:21–28 (NASB 2020)

21 They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, “What business do you have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!” 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 28 Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus takes His new disciples into Capernaum. Capernaum was an important port in Jesus’ day. The village had a mixed population of Jews, Gentiles, and it even had a Roman garrison. It was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The village had an eight foot high sea wall that extended half a mile. There were several piers that extended around 100’ from that wall. Capernaum had an important fishing industry along with merchants and artisans. It was very diverse. The name comes from the Hebrew kapharnaoum which means village of Nahum. Jesus made this village His headquarters after being rejected by Nazareth.

Again Mark uses the word immediately. Immediately Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. For the longest time, I thought that the synagogue was a Jewish church in the towns in Isreal. But it was just a meeting place that they used to worship and for instruction. They only had one church, the temple in Jerusalem. They came about after the Babylonian captivity. They destroyed the Temple. They are similar to our churches. Although we call this building the church, it is not that. We are the church. This is just where we gather to worship and learn and fellowship. Jesus frequently taught in the synagogues.

Jesus’ teaching was very different that the normal teaching of the scribes.

Mark 1:22 (NASB 2020)

22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

The scribes based their authority on the teachings of other rabbis. They were the OT experts. They were often called teachers of the law. They new the Torah, the law of Moses, better than anyone. They studied it daily. They were respected and could trace their origins back to Ezra. They are later called rabbis and could render binding judgement on the interpretation of the law. Many were Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, were made up mostly of scribes. These men were greatly respected and it was considered an honor to sit under their instruction. The scribes got their authority from the traditions of men. They relied on what had been taught from those that came before them.

Jesus’ teaching was radically different. He taught with the authority of God! Jesus didn’t use quotation marks when He taught. Jesus said you have hear that it was said, but I say to you! He preached God’s Word, not about God’s Word. He explained the Law and the Prophets like He was there. When Jesus preached the Word, He was clear and direct in His application. He didn’t use complicated illustrations and big words that were hard to understand. He wanted them to understand, not see how smart He was, or how many big words He new. If He would have talked above their heads, they would have thought He was no different than the scribes. They knew that He was genuine. They knew He passionately cared. He preached with a passion that was foreign to scribes. They saw how He clearly preached God’s Word. He knew it, He was it. Jesus is the Word. No one could teach it better than He could, and they saw it. It was painfully clear that His teaching was different and the people were amazed by it.

We can see next how the demons respond to Jesus’ authority.

Mark 1:23–27 (NASB 2020)

23 Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 saying, “What business do you have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!” 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

The term unclean spirit is another way of saying demon. The two are used interchangeably. Demons are the foot soldiers of Satan. They do his dirty work. We can see multiple times in the Bible that they can posses people. Notice how the demon address Jesus. It cries out to Him. In fear we cry out. The demon was afraid of Jesus, because it know who He was. It knew the authority that Jesus has! It knew that it could do nothing to Jesus. It asked if Jesus came to destroy them. We take that since the Bible doesn’t say that there are multiple demons, it is referring to all demons. It knew that all Jesus had to do was speak and it would be destroyed. It knew its place. It called Jesus the Holy One of God! The demons give Jesus more respect than most people do. The demons tremble in the presence of the Lord. Most people won’t even acknowledge Him. Or they acknowledge Him and ignore His commands. Unlike humanity, when Jesus commands the demon to do something, it has no choice but to obey. We can see this in verse 25-26. Jesus told the demon to be silent, because it was not Jesus’ time to reveal who He is. He told it to come out of the person, and even though it resisted, it came out. It says that the demon through the man into convulsions, then it cried out in a loud voice and came out of him. This shows the authority Jesus has. The scribes and religious leaders could not cast out demons by just talking to them. They had a laundry list of remedies to try and get rid of the demons, they sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. With Jesus, they always had to obey. And all He had to do was speak. Again, the people were amazed at this. They were in awe of His teaching with authority! How bad does that make us, if we call ourselves Christians, and we don’t obey. If we say that we are His, and do what we want. At least the demons are honest and say they don’t follow Jesus. Yet, they still obey!

After they saw His authority, they spread the word about this new Rabbi! All over Galilee, they new about this new authority that was shown. If we have experienced His authority in our lives, who have we told? Are we spreading His message today? That is what we are commanded to do, make disciples!

Today we authority to things that were never ment to have it.

Sports

Kids

We ignore the One who truly has and deserves to be in absolute authority in our lives, Jesus Christ.

We call Him King, but then do what we want. In the time of kings, if you didn’t do what the king told you to do, you died. We can’t have a king if we don’t do what He says.

Who has authority in your life?

drugs

pornography

alcohol

gambling

your job

If you answered anything other than Jesus, then you need to repent and turn to Him. You come as we sing.

Pray