Astounded by Jesus’ Teaching
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Point: Is your life so integrated into Jesus that when you speak people listen? Our lives should be so integrated into Jesus that when we speak people desire to listen.
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.
And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
What is it about Jesus and His teaching that the people were amazed about? His teaching was with ‘authority’? What is it about those men and women that manage to capture your attention when they speak and teach? My favorite professor at CBC was Eric DeBrun professor of History. He could capture and retain your attention through out the whole 45 minute class because he was so in touch with what he was teaching. You could tell that he ate and breathed history - midevil, reformation, Roman, Greek; he just made everything come alive because he was alive in it, just so connected to the most intricate details.
He was so enraptured that he would act out and portray the scenario he was teaching about. He would get down on the ground, he would hoot and haller. He was so united with what he was talking about and teaching. Like he had been there. It was wonderful to be under his tutalege. If you did not like history, you would after one of his classes. He taught with integrity which brought him authority.
Maybe that is why some parents lack the respect of their children, they do not have integrity in their lives, therefore they have no authority, to teach and lead their children. What they say they believe does not translate to their actions. What kind of model am I to my children? To any child? Am I a parent living with integrity in my life, before my children, my siblings, my friends, my neighbors, the non-believer? Not just parents, as a person who has declared Jesus as my teacher, my model, and my LORD. What example am I being to those with whom I live, I interact, with whom I am loving, and reaching out to? Even to those with whom I am not aware that I am being an example to of Jesus?
What does it mean to live with integrity? The word integrity means: to be unified, united, one, whole, an unbroken state. It also means to be of moral soundness or purity; uprightness; honesty (Webster’s 1828 An American Dictionary of the English Language). To live with integrity then means to live united, whole, in an unbroken state with moral soundness, purity, and honesty. The Hebrew word for “uprightness” is “yashar” which conveys the idea of being straight or level, symbolizing a life aligned with God’s will. The question: am I living a life straight with God? Am I level with Him? Am I straight with people? Am I united with Christ, living with moral and ethical purity and honesty before God and His creation, as He desires?
What do you think is the biggest complaint the world has about the Church and “Christians”? Integrity. Honestly, I think the whole world has a problem with integrity because the whole world lives under the curse of sin and it’s effects. But the world tends to be very wary of the Church, and those who profess to be Christians because our beliefs, words, and actions tend not to be united or unified. I say one thing, and end up doing the other. I commit to something, and I fail to follow through. I say I will pray for you or the situation, and I do not. I say I will be there, and I fail to show. I may think it’s no big deal, but for the one who has to bear the burden of my failed follow through, how is it for them?
[Illustration] - Light man for Christmas Production at Foothills - Back at Foothills Alliance in Calgary, I volunteered to help with the Christmas production one year. Foothills was a big church with about 1000 people attending every week. They were had committed to reaching out to their community around them, so one of the way they decided could do so, was to put on a Christmas production every year. It was maybe our second year in our new location.
I was assigned the duty as one of the lightmen. Specifically, I was to run one of the spotlights high above at the back of the sanctuary. The first night went off uneventful. I ran my spotlight, highlighted important events and persons during the evening. Came to the end, applause was made, people were thanked for the contributions, and the night was done. But I was not very happy. Believing I had performed the best job a spotlight person was capable and able, I received no acknowledgment. The sound guys, the musicians, the make up artists, costumers, ushers and everybody else were thanked but not the spotlight guys. What the heck? We were the ones who climbed up the ladders to the sky and put our lives in danger. We had to wear gloves to protect our hands from getting roasted by the heat of the mini-suns we were manipulating and manouvering. We literally had the job of making everybody shine.
What did I do? I went home mad, pouting, and I refused to show up for my commitment the next night. I’d show them. I let the old man inside me get the better of me that night. The gospel was shared that night, but Satan defeated me that evening. Why? Because I wanted some of the spotlight, I wanted my moment in the sun. Well those that do so, get their just applause on earth, not in heaven. My motivation was not the Gospel and glorifying God, but receiving a pat on the back, being a good guy, and receiving some attention for my service and sacrifice. My heart lacked integrity with what I professed to believe, and in how I acted. I was not unified, I was not whole, I was broken. It was not about commitment, it was about appearance and acknowledgement of my good deed for the church and the cause of Christ. I did not care about the burden I was placing on the church or the production manager. If you won’t acknowledge the lightman, then obviously the lightman is not important, therefore I am justified in my actions. I’ll show you.
What does Jesus say about this?
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
What does King David have to say about God and being upright and the offering of service?
I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.
God tests my heart to see if I will act with grumbling or with thanks. If I will respond begrudgingly or with blessing. Will I change my color like a chameleon, or remain faithful knowing my day will come when the King WILL recognize my faithfulness and trustworthiness. Am I living my life with integrity to the calling of Jesus to live as He lived, loving as He loved, and walking whole and He walked whole. Remember, we are called to perfection, forgiving and being forgiven, in our relationships with God, with one another, and with the world around us.
If we as believers are not united with God, how on earth do we expect non-believers to connect with Jesus through us, when we are living without integrity? Am I living with integrity or without integrity? Does He, that I profess to believe in and follow, is He evident in my actions? Am I unified with Christ? I may believe in Him, but that does not mean that I am unified with Him. A disciple does what Jesus says, instead of merely given ascent to what Jesus said. A proclaimed faith in Jesus that is not matched by a unified life, is not a real faith. The Apostle James, who also deserted Jesus, as He was arrested and eventually crucified on the cross for His life of integrity, says these words to us, from centuries before,
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
A unified life of integrity is a life of both faith and works in Christ. Their is no grumbling and no blaming. But there is to be accountability, reliability, and trustworthiness. Am I accountable to the LORD and others? Am I reliable for the LORD and others? Am I trustworthy to the LORD and others? These are elements of being connected to God, and connected to others; of loving God and loving others. When I failed to fulfill my duty as a lightman, I failed to be accountable, I failed to be reliable, and I failed to be trustworthy. Why should people then believed in me, listened to me, or followed me.
[Illustration] Benching a Basketball Star What I love about basketball and hockey is that integrity is integral to each sport; as a matter of fact to any team sport. Why? Because if you fail to show up you are called to account for your lack of effort by both players and coaches. You fail to be reliable, you are sitting on the bench as someone is always eager to take your place and show their commitment. If you fail to be trustworthy, you shape up or you are shipped out.
I have coached both boys and girls jr. high and sr. high basketball over the years. Big difference between coaching the two, girls hold grudges and drag it on forever. Boys deal with the problem, solve the problem and move on. I loved coaching both, but their was no drama with the boys. For both, integrity is a big thing to try to instill. You practice, you play. You do not show up for practice, you don’t play. And depending whether you are coaching jr. high, concentrating on skill development, or sr. high, concentrating on competition, players play and coaches coach. You have to be straight and upfront with the players and with the parents. Jr. High, everyone is going to play and play more or less equal. Sr. High, their is not equal playing time, because their is not equal skill and the objective of Sr. Ball is to compete and win. Being upfront is to have integrity in the game and in the way you coach and are going to manage your players.
One boy I coached in Sr. Ball decided he was going to go to his girlfriends game and then come play in our game after. He never communicated this with me, so when he showed up at the game, he expected to play because he was one of our more skilled and talented players. The game was super close, going back and forth. Home crowd going crazy. My heart going a mile a minute, trying to navigate and coach these guys to a first ever win against this team and school. Going down to the wire, we pulled it out by two, 81-79.
I kid you not, after that game we felt like we won the Stanley Cup! I did anyway. So exhilirating, so much satisfaction in overcoming the seemingly impossible. Better yet we won with our integrity intact. I was able to coach, and coach the rest of the season with my integrity still intact. I never put that boy in who showed up at half time. Even though he was one of our best players, I refused to put him in. Why? Because I had to be true to my word to the boys, I had to set an example. An unexcused absense means no ball, no play. If I had capitulated on what I said, because he was a star player, and I did not think we could win without him, I would have lost the team. The team would have lost their respect for me, for my words, and for my given authority.
Do you think I had a problem with the player after that? Not one. Did I have a problem with the team? Nope, not one. They knew coach meant business, even if he is just a volunteer and a pastor. Did I have a problem with the parents. Nope. Did I have a problem with the school? Not one. Why? Because of integrity of belief, words, and actions.
Why did Jesus words, person, and teaching have authority? Because He lived a life of integrity. His speech was united with His actions. What He said, He did, and what He did was backed up by what He said. Is my life the same? Are my words united with my actions? Does what I say I believe, and in whom I believe, match with what I do or do not do? Why should people listen to me, believe in me, and follow me if their is no integrity in what I do and say?
God is pleased by our integrity (1 Chr. 29:17). God is pleased when we act with integrity. God is unchanging in His nature, and so should we be also. There is “no variation or shadow” in Him (James 1:17). We are to be people of integrity. Israel struggled with enemies and staying in the promised land because they acted without integrity. Kings came and went in Judah and Israel’s history because they acted without integrity. Jesus was crucified because the Jews, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees acted without integrity. Jesus healed and raised people from the dead, He fulfilled prophesy, and spoke truth to power, because He is the God of integrity. He was crucified for doing so, and so will His followers, but without fear because true love drives out fear.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
God does not change with the circumstances, situations, or person. He is consistent. He cannot violate His own nature. The Apostle Paul says to Timothy,
if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not man who changes his mind.”
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
God is Trustworthy because He is Truth
As a result of God’s unchanging nature, we can trust in Him to have integrity, to be reliable, to be accountable, and to be trustworthy. That’s because He is always true, He is always straight, He is without error, He is always true to the mark. This is the hallmark of Jesus, He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is the perfect representation of the Father, of the invisible God, being God Himself (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15, John 1:1).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus says Himself, “If you have seen me, then you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). John 12:45
And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
Knowing the unchanging nature of God, that He is true to His Word, and does not change like shifting sand, I can have confidence picking up my Bible, that I will meet God, know God, and can trust God because God is ALWAYS faithful to His Word, because He cannot deny Himself, who is perfect, without lie, without sin, and is always good, and the truth, if I care to know the truth about anything, especially about myself.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
What is truth Pilate asked? Truth is what is reality; what the essense of a matter is; it is purity from all error, all unfactuality [225]. Truth is without sin. Truth is the Gospel of Jesus that man was made in the image of God, fell in the Garden, bears the curse of sin and death, and can only be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins on the cross, being put to death, and shedding His blood, as our sacrifice, and we rise to life only because of His resurrection and grace. Truth is hearing the shepherd speak and following Him and His ways (John 10:16; 27). Truth is knowing and believing Jesus’ declaration that in God there is only light, no darkness; no evil only good.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
To be trustworthy, I need to walk as Jesus walked, live as Jesus lived, do as Jesus did. It is to realize that if we are not living in integrity with God, we walk in darkness and do not have fellowship with Him. If we lie and say we have no sin, the truth of God is not within us, we make Jesus a liar, and His truth is not in us (1 John 1:5-10). To be trustworthy we need to listen to Jesus’ voice, read His Word, pray because “everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice”, Jesus says (John 18:37), because I Am the Word that became flesh, having lived among you, the glory of the Father, “the Son full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We have an integrity problem, because we have a trust issue with the Truth. If we won’t trust Jesus, the Truth, how will anyone trust us to be truthful? Of all the problems within the church, and outside the church, God is looking for followers who will be faithul to the Truth, and be trustworthy to speak the Truth, in all circumstances, to bring glory to Him, and overcome the darkness which now resides in us, and in our world. Again, why did Jesus come? What did Jesus say?
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Jesus came to bear witness to reality, because the world bears and proclaims a false reality. We are not gods, there is only one God, and Jesus the Son is the only one who points and leads to God the Father, and makes way to God the Father’s House, His Kingdom. There is only one Word …Jesus. Their is only one authority …Jesus. There is only one Truth …Jesus. There is only one way …Jesus. There is only One trustworthy …Jesus. And there is only one way to live …following the integrity of Jesus. In a world that is sorely lacking truth and integrity, why would you, why would we, believers and followers of Jesus, rely on anyone else, and proclaim anything else other than Jesus being the Way, the Truth and the Life?
Can Jesus trust us with His mission? Can He trust me with His resources? Can He trust us to be reliable? To be one whose character and actions are consistent with His? One who is united with Him in person and purpose? Because our level of reliability and integrity determines the level of trust people will afford to you, to me, to us, and ultimately to Jesus.
Why were people astounded by the person and teachings of Jesus? Because He was a person bound to being truthful, trustworthy, reliable, and accountable to His Father, and to those He loved. He was a person and God of truth and integrity. His life reflected His belief, His words. Moses’ life reflected His belief and His words. Just as the Apostle Paul’s life reflected His belief and words. Does ours?
