The Authority of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning. Welcome to CHCC. We will continue our study through Luke’s gospel where we now find ourselves in chapter 20. Jesus has just made His triumphal entry into the city with the crowds surrounding Him shouting praises, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk. 19:38) As He rode in on the foal of a donkey, He fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.
Upon His approach to Jerusalem, Jesus begins to weep over the city. Foreseeing the destruction that will come upon the city in the near future, He is overcome with emotion and sorrow. He says, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Lk. 19:42) Their Messiah is in their midst and yet the people would ultimately reject Him and nail Him to a cross. Their denial of Him as their prophesied Messiah would lead to their destruction at the hands of General Titus of the Roman army in AD 70.
And then, making His way into the city, Jesus proceeds to enter the temple—thus fulfilling yet another prophecy. This time in Malachi 3:1. Upon entering, He finds there to be a marketplace in the Court of Gentiles where the people are selling sacrificial animals and changing out foreign money for Roman money—and charging exorbitant prices to do so. All of this fill Jesus with a righteous fury and He begins to drive out the sellers and turns over the tables of the money changers. Then after all of this, it tells us in verse 47 that He began teaching daily in the temple. But, of course, the chief priests, scribes, and principal men of the people hated it and they sought to find a way to destroy him. But they could not because it tells us that the people in the temple were hanging on His words. The Greek rendering for “hanging on” means to grip tightly or to depend on. As if one was hanging from a cliff and they are clinging tightly to the edge. They clung to His Words as if life itself—which is exactly what they are.
So it is the culmination of all of this—the triumphal entry with the people shouting the Hallel Psalms behind Jesus’ very intentional entrance upon the colt of a donkey; it is the driving out of the salesmen and money changers in the temple, it is this daily teaching in the temple—that has the religious leaders scheming and seeking a way to have Jesus arrested or discredited. As we will read this morning, these leaders attempt to challenge Jesus’ authority which leads to them being discredited through Jesus’ response to their questioning and by the use of a prophetic parable.
If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please turn with me to Luke chapter 20 as we begin in verse 1.
PRAY
One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
First off, I want us to recognize that Jesus was doing two things in the temple. Verse one tells us that He was “teaching the people and preaching the gospel.” The word “teach” here means simply to “instruct.” “Preach” means to present the good news.
Jonathan T. Pennington denotes the difference between the two by stating:
We can define preaching as the invitational and exhortational proclamation of biblical and theological truth. Teaching, by contrast, is the explanation and explication of biblical and theological truth.
Perhaps the greatest Biblical example we find of Jesus preaching is His Sermon on the Mount. And His many teachings are seen in His parables and His dialogues with individuals. One recent example would be with the rich ruler where He recognized that the young man followed the letter of the law but failed to follow the heart of the law and so instructed Him to get rid of all His possessions and follow after Him. Teaching gives tangible application to the Word of God. Where preaching presents the truth and proclaims the truth in a way to exhort and bring people to the feet of their Savior.
Both serve an important and necessary role—still to this very day. I have a tendency or a lean toward teaching most of the time. Even now in this moment I’m teaching more so than preaching. And nearly all pastors have a lean more towards one than the other. It is important, though to find a balance; and there will be preaching today as well. Preaching is vital for it is the foundation upon our teaching. And we know both are important because Jesus did both throughout His ministry!
So as Jesus is teaching and preaching, the chief priests, scribes, and elders put their heads together and devise a plan to ensnare Jesus. So as Jesus is giving instruction to the people clinging onto every one of His Words, He is interrupted by these leaders who ask Him a question: “Who is it that gave you this authority?”
Authority has been one of the key themes throughout Luke’s gospel. From chapter one to chapter 20, Jesus’ authority has been seen throughout. From the promise of Jesus to Mary in chapter one where the angel says…
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
During John’s ministry as he was preparing the way for Jesus, He preached of one who was coming to baptize them with fire.
John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
In Luke 5 it is revealed that Jesus has authority to forgive sins. And upon doing so, Jesus perceives the thoughts of the Pharisees who saw this as a blasphemous moment. So He responds to them in verse 22…
When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.
He continues His ministry by healing many people, displaying authority over the wind and the waves and over demonic spirits. Even in His teaching and preaching there is an authority unlike anything seen in the religious leaders. In Matthew’s gospel it says that He speaks unlike the scribes.
for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
How was His teaching different? What made His teaching be as one who had authority and the teaching of the scribes be as one who did not have authority? R. Kent Hughes explains this well:
Derived authority was a major pillar in their system. The act of teaching was typically a tedious chain of authority citings—“Rabbi Meir says . . . but Rabbi Judah says . . . but Rabbi Simeon also permits . . .” But Jesus did not teach this way. He was the authority!
The only thing Jesus quoted was Scripture—which is really Him just quoting Himself since He is the Word incarnate. But since Jesus did not quote from other rabbis and had not been given the approval of other rabbis, they hoped in His admission of this that He would be discredited and the crowd would no longer hang to His every word. So how would Jesus avoid this trap? He does so in such a brilliant way! He answers their question by posing them a question. And how they answer would determine His answer!
He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
Have you guys seen the recent episode of The Chosen that shows this moment? I started laughing because the religious leaders reminded me of Family Feud. In the game show when a team has a chance to “steal” they all huddle together and confer with one another to decide the best answer to give. And in the show, the Pharisees do the same thing. Jesus asks the question and then they huddle their heads together and begin whispering to one another. “If we say John’s ministry came from heaven then He will ask us why we didn’t believe him then. If we say John’s ministry came from man, the people will stone us because they loved John!”
And we must understand that Jesus wasn’t avoiding the question at all because His authority is linked with John’s ministry, since He was preparing the people for Jesus’ arrival.
What is more, the issue here for the religious leaders was that John the Baptist was a hero among the people. Many in the crowd at the temple had been baptized by John in repentance of their sins. But the actions of the Pharisees seen earlier in Luke’s gospel already reveal where the they stood in regards to this question from Jesus.
(When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
So the men who went to set the trap ended up with their own feet caught in its vice grip. They set the bear trap and then stepped on it. Because what is more is that if they admit that John came from Heaven, not only would they have to admit they sinned by rejecting his baptism. They would also, by admittance that John’s ministry was from heaven, have to admit that Jesus was the Messiah! Because that was the very purpose of John’s ministry! To PREPARE the people for the Messiah, who He proclaimed to be Jesus!
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
There was no way they were going to admit that John’s ministry came from heaven because they would never admit their sin! What is heartbreaking is that there are people like this today. They know the Scriptures, they’ve understood the teachings of Jesus and recognize His proclamations as the Messiah, the Son of God. But they are unwilling to admit this in their hearts and instead choose to continue to pursue their life of sin.
For the Pharisees, to admit to John’s ministry being from God was to admit Jesus as Messiah and for them to lay their prestige and their titles at the feet of this carpenter from Nazareth. And I have no doubt that if any of them had done this in humility and brokenness that Jesus would have graciously forgiven them just as He had so many others.
But they couldn’t bring theirselves to this point. Instead their hearts remained hardened. But they also weren’t so bold in their convictions. They weren’t willing to die for their belief. So they folded like cheap suitcases. They said, and I imagine they kept their eyes to the ground, faces turning red in anger and embarrassment, and grumbled their answer to Jesus.
So they answered that they did not know where it came from.
So Jesus replies simply and succintly.
And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Score yet another one for Jesus. By testifying to their ignorance, the religious leaders reveal their own inadequacy to lead the nation. But Jesus isn’t done with them. We see great patience and tenderness in Jesus when ministering to the common people. But He is much more severe when dealing with the leaders because it was their duty to lead the people to the heart of God. We see this when Jesus declares seven woes to the Pharisees in Matthew 23!
This part is also seen in that same episode of The Chosen. And Katie and I were discussing this because in the show Jesus is seen with such powerful emotion. But sometimes it is hard to gather that when reading the Bible. But Jesus didn’t give these “woes” with some halfhearted, quiet uncertainty. He proclaimed them from a righteous fury for leading God’s people astray.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
These are damning statements! And here in Luke’s gospel, while the word is given through parable, the severity of the message is just as strong. Let’s take look; verse 9.
And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
Some of Jesus’ parables left the crowds and even the disciples often wondering the meaning of them. They would even ask Him to explain on occasion. But this parable left no one wondering. However, us modern day readers may have some questions. So the first thing we need to do is identify the characters of our parable.
The first is the vineyard itself. The Jews in the temple that day would have immediately understood this to be the nation of Israel. This is seen throughout the Old Testament, but perhaps the most well known passage is from Isaiah 5, titled the “Song of the Vineyard.”
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
In fact, the connection between the vineyard and Israel was so much a part of their identity as a nation that the very temple which Jesus was giving the parable had ornate designs all over it of grapevines. They were carved into the very stone with branches and leaves filled in with beautiful gold, and grapes made out of precious jewels.
This means that the man who planted the vineyard, or the owner of the vineyard is God Himself. The tenants represented the religious leaders—the Pharisees and Scribes. The servants that the owner sends to the tenants represent the prophets of Israel. And I think you’ve probably already made the connection of the owner’s son representing Jesus Himself.
Lastly, the “others” that the owner will give the vineyard to represents the Gentiles which is why it elicits such a strong response from the religious leaders, “Surely not!”
THE LONGSUFFERING OF GOD
The first thing I want us to think on is the patience of God, or the longsuffering of God.
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
In the parable, the owner sends servant after servant after servant to seek fruit from HIS vineyard, but the tenants beat and send away every single one of them. In the Old Testament, time after time after time God sent His prophets to announce a word of warning for their sinful living; each time He would give them a chance to repent and turn away, but they would not listen.
God acted in graciousness and patience toward the people. His hand of judgment and righteousness could have acted immediately but He stayed it for more time than deserved to allow the people an opportunity to return to Him. But the nation would not heed the warning.
Instead they would beat, berate, imprison, and kill the prophets for their words. Stephen, just before he was martyred, shouted at the Sanhedrin about this.
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
The prophet Elijah was chased into the wilderness by the king. Isaiah, according to tradition and possibly reference in Hebrews 11, was sawn in half. Zechariah was stoned to death by the altar. John the Baptist was beheaded.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
The call of prophet was an honorable one but clearly very dangerous. As Martin Luther once said,
If I were God and the world had treated me as it treated Him, I would kick the wretched thing to pieces.
Prophet after prophet was abused and mistreated and often killed by the people, but God would continue to send them in His lovingkindness, longsuffering, and patience.
So in the parable, after having no success with the servants, the owner decides to send his “beloved son” in hopes they would receive him. The words here are a parallel to the words of God in chapter 3.
and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
The prophets were sent, they would not listen. So the Son was sent, and He was murdered. Continual denial, continual sin, continual hatred did not turn God’s love away from us. As Charles Spurgeon beautifully explained it:
If you reject him, he answers you with tears; if you wound him, he bleeds out cleansing; if you kill him, he dies to redeem; if you bury him, he rises again to bring resurrection. Jesus is love made manifest.
The logic of the murder, in terms of ancient culture, is that it was possible for a tenant farmer to claim the land for himself if the owner was gone for three years. After that time, it was presumed the owner had either died or was no longer interested in the land. Perhaps the appearance of the son led the tenants to believe that the father had died and the son now had rightful claim to the land. However, if he somehow was out of the picture, the vineyard would be there to keep!
And so this parable now becomes prophetic because the religious leaders would very soon end up doing the very thing seen here—they would kill the Son of the vineyard owner! They would kill the son of God.
As one author explained it, this parable became a prophetic autobiography. So what becomes of these wicked tenants? Do they get what they desired? No! The judgment they reaped finally comes upon them.
And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”
The partial fulfillment of this would come in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple; but the ultimate fulfillment comes at the eternal judgment of Israel’s leadership and the reassignment that would come with the early church that was mostly Gentile.
The leaders of Israel continually resisted God in Christ and it would come at great cost. As one theologian explained it, “There is eternal peril in resisting Christ’s authority.”
As believers the result of resisting Christ is terrifying! We understand the result of doing so leads to eternal separation from the love of God! This is why Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others” (2 Cor. 5:11)!
So all of this, again leads us back to the authority of Christ, and our necessary need to surrender our lives to Him. As we looked at last week, when Jesus entered the city on the colt of a donkey, it tells us the crowd removed their cloaks and laid them before the feet of Jesus as He made His way down the road.
This act signified a recognition of Jesus as King. It was a proclamation to His rule and reign. It was a sign of surrender. Have you surrendered to Jesus’ authority? Luke’s gospel has left no question to His power and authority. It has been made crystal clear. So again, I ask, have you surrendered to Jesus’ authority? Is He your Lord? Does your life line up with that proclamation?
Last few verses now and we will close in prayer.
But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people
Jesus brilliantly quotes Psalm 118. Just as the crowd quoted Psalm 118 during His entrance into the city, He quotes it again but in a different section, verse 22 to be precise.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
The builders refer once more to the religious leaders. In fact, “builders” was a popular image for leaders in Jesus’ day. The prophetic word of Psalm 118 tells us that the leaders would reject the Messiah but He would become the cornerstone.
A cornerstone, in ancient times, was the principal stone. The first one placed when putting together a building. It was foundational. Everything else would be built upon it and it was necessary for the cornerstone to first be in place in order for everything else to be built properly and be structurally sound.
Once the cornerstone was set, it became the basis for determining every measurement in the remaining construction; everything was aligned to it. As the cornerstone of the building of the church, Jesus is our standard of measure and alignment.
Everything in our faith and within the church is built upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is EVERYTHING! But I really want to focus on Jesus’ last statement here because it is so powerful. He says, “EVeryone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” The NKJV translates it this way: Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
There is a significant difference to falling upon the rock of ages and being eternally crushed by Him. Those who fall upon Jesus will be broken. This refers to the spiritual brokenness required to receive the kingdom.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
There is nothing greater than being spiritually broken. It is hard, but it brings us to the very feet of Jesus and ultimately through that brokenness Jesus builds back up to become more like Him.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
This requires a recognition of our sin and our need for a savior. It requires a humility of heart. Do not allow your pride to keep you from falling on the rock, for if you do, you will ultimately be ground to powder by the rock.
As R. Kent Hughes so aptly put it:
Our attitude toward Jesus is everything. We will either fall or rise according to our faith or lack of faith in him.
CLOSING — A REMINDER OF CHRIST’S AUTHORITY
So as we close, let us not forget the focal point of Luke’s gospel—the authority of Christ.
He has authority to forgive sin.
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
He also has authority to give spiritual life.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right [that is AUTHORITY] to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
In fact, Jesus would tell His disciples ALL AUTHORITY has been given to Him, and in that authority He calls Us to proclaim Him to the world.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So what is your response to His authority? Will you deny and resist His authority as the scribes and Pharisees did and thus be crushed to powder by the rock? Or will you submit and surrender to His authority and thus be built up by Jesus and rest in Him for all eternity?
I hope we would all submit to Him! What is Jesus to you? Is He your Master or your impediment? Is He Your Lord and Your authority? I hope that He is!
PRAY
