Questioning Authority / Mark 11:27-33

Questioning Authority / Mark 11:27-33

Good morning! If you’re new to River Oak, so am I.

My name is Zach, and I serve as one of the pastors. This summer, God called my little family to Chesapeake.

As a team member, I get to see behind the curtain. What are our leaders actually like? What is God doing in the hearts of our people? I have a few observations

You take the great commission seriously. Young adults sharing the gospel in Hickory Middle School. Older lady meeting with local assisted living facilities to care for widows.

I trust the leaders that I serve alongside. They love God. They are committed to the word and prayer. Their desire to shepherd is sincere. Revolving door counseling. In the lobby.

You remind me of the simple, but powerful, truth that Jesus is alive. Saved you in the dark moments of addiction or rebellion. Met you in prison. Or met you in church. Saved you from your own self-righteousness. Jesus is alive.

If you’re new, commit to coming for a month. Visiting a different church each week is a lame strategy.

If you call River Oak home, it is an honor to be a part of God’s family with you. Levi - Where is my family? We’re here. Where is my big family? We may be a big family, but we are family nonetheless. Let’s pray to our Heavenly Father.

Pray

Pride Takeover - In the animal kingdom, there may be no better image of authority than a lion. They are loud, fierce, and strong. Despite these amazing attributes, their authority is challenged through a process called Pride Takeover. Young males reach maturity and are removed from a pride. They roam the land to form coalitions. Once formed, young lions will seek to overthrow the male leaders of existing prides. They will roar, they will fight, and some even die. In the end, the strongest lion will rise to take authority over the pride.

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the final week of his life, he challenges the existing authority. The Sanhedrin led with manmade rules and fear. But this new authority entered the scene riding on a donkey. Rather than violence, he gave sight to the blind and healed the sick. Rather than using religious manipulation, he taught with authority and drove out practices of false worship. He was like a young lion doing a pride takeover, except the pride was his to begin with.

Listen to his words as he cleansed the temple, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” My house - he claimed all authority. How do the leaders respond?

18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

The rightful king stepped onto the scene, and in fear, the existing leaders are going to fight his authority.

As we witness this debate, I want you to consider two questions:

Do you accept Jesus’ authority?

Mark 11:27 And they came again to Jerusalem. He moves toward danger. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

Noticeably, the chief priests and scribes invite the elders. Rounding out the Sanhedrin, a 70-member governing body that led religious practices, legal decisions, and city policies. When Jesus predicted his death, this was the triune group he mentioned. The triune Trinity entered Jerusalem to save. The triune priests, scribes, and elders approach Jesus to destroy.

Sanhedrin PR Problem: mean men in black robes making life miserable, they had seats of honor, people publicly greeted them, rich, intelligent, religious, copied scripture letter by letter, the Old Testament called for a fast once a year, the Pharisees fasted twice a week, If they wen’t to river oak, we would likely admire them, view them as successful, and even be inclined to view them as leaders.

As the gatekeepers of the temple, it was their responsibility to evaluate teachers and rising leaders so…

28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”

When they say “these things,” what are they referring to? The cheers of the triumphal entry. The wonder of the blind receiving sight. The gripping power of Jesus’ teaching. And most recently, the cleansing of the temple. They were fine with Jesus having authority, “out there,” but now the Lion of Judah was changing practices in their territory.

We are still asking the same question of Jesus, “By what authority do you do these things?” Does God have the authority to influence culture? Does the bible have the authority to speak to gender? Does Jesus have the authority to influence our protection of babies in the womb? Some of us are okay with those questions. But what about these? Does God have authority over your schedule? Does God have priority in your home? Does God have authority over your wealth? Jesus loves you too much to only influence “out there.” He wants to cleanse your heart of evil and take a permanent seat on the throne of your life. Will you let him?

How will Jesus respond to this question? If he says that his authority is from God, then they can prosecute him for blasphemy. If he says he has no authority, then they can prosecute him for rebellion.

29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Answer me.”

The apostle Paul once wrote of Jesus, 5 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Think of all he could have done to display his power to these leaders: 100 rainbows, fire from heaven, and turned all bodies of water into wine. Instead, he asked a question.

Asking questions was the traditional practice of a Rabi; what was abnormal was a stipulation. If you answer currently, I will give you the answer. He is testing their sincerity. And he does so by pressing rewind back to the ministry of John the Baptist.

Mark chapter 1 describes the ministry of John: sent as a forerunner to prepare the way of the savior, preached a call to repent, receive forgiveness, and baptism. When he baptized Jesus, a miracle happened, 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Who was in the crowd witnessing this revival, these miracles? 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him Jerusalem. The people the Sanhedrin led, and likely some of these same men. So how will they respond to Jesus’ simple question, Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?

31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”

They huddle up to find a way to excuse their unbelief. Exposing their insincerity. If they were sincere seekers, here is what their huddle might have sounded like, “Do you remember the miracles? Do you remember the revival? It seemed like God was working. Maybe Jesus really is the messiah. Maybe his authority is from God.”

Little kids covering their eyes, playing hide and seek. What is cute in children is tragic in adults. God, I can’t see you, because you don’t want to see. God, I can’t hear you, because you don’t want to hear. To see his authority is a call to surrender. You don’t want to surrender. You want to stay in control. Friend, don’t let this spiritual pride be true of you.

By remembering John, Jesus is using the lesser to greater argument. If you can’t accept that John was a messenger of God, then you’ll have a hard time believing that I am the messiah. They willfully ignored the obvious, so Jesus is not interested in disclosing the mysterious.

I have a question for your heart that I want you to honestly consider. Have you been listening to God’s obvious messages? Has he sent family to call you when you’re low? Has he allowed trials to call you back? Has he sent undeserved blessings? Has he drawn you to come back to church for the first time in years? Your soul may say, “This seems too simple to be a message from God.” Trusting sight instead of faith is what got the Sanhedrin to this terrible place of unbelief. They might have thought, “Surely John wasn’t from God, he wore camel's hair and lived in the wilderness.” “Surely Jesus isn’t the Messiah, he’s uneducated, he’s a carpenter, he’s not a scribe. What authority does he have?” They trusted in their own wisdom and missed the signs from God. Don’t miss the obvious.

When you go to Virginia Beach, don’t you know that there is a power greater than you? Don’t you see intelligent design in the crafting of a baby? When your heart screams for justice, don’t you feel that there is morality? Don’t you know that there is a God? Don’t you know his name is Jesus? Are you willing to accept his authority as king of your heart?

To answer this, we must consider our second question…

Do you accept the results of surrender?

—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.

Last week’s passage closed by saying the priests and scribes feared Jesus. This week, we learn that they also fear the people. Holding onto control makes you afraid because you fear losing it.

Think of how their lives would have changed if they had surrendered to Jesus’ authority: the temple would have returned to a place of prayer, not profit; they would have had to admit hypocrisy; they would have had to make him the chief leader; they would have had to repent. They loved the comfort of sin more than the change King Jesus was bringing. So as an escape…

33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

Friends, if your best answer is “I don’t know,” are you truly an expert? Do you truly have authority?

This is our culture's go-to response. They claim ignorance as a cover-up for a hard heart that loves sin. “We don’t know what happens to people after they die.” “How can we know how the world was created?” “We don’t know that the bible is reliable.” “How can we know Jesus is the only way?” Meanwhile, Jesus’ authority claims are undeniable. I am the creator. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. The church is my house. I am the King of kings and the Lord of Lords!

When caring parents ask for prayer for a prodigal child, my go-to question is, “Would you describe the problem as relational, intellectual, or spiritual?” If they got heart by a church, healing is possible. If they have academic questions, we have reasonable answers. But if they love sin, we need a miracle. Often, a “I don’t know” is a cover-up for “I love my sin and I am not ready to surrender.”

If this describes you, I have a sobering reality. Saying “I don’t know” won't get you out of the consequences of a traffic ticket.

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

If you ignore the obvious, God doesn’t owe you the mysterious.

There may be some in this room who are wrestling with God. God has entered into your territory, and he is roaring. You got a bad diagnosis. Parenting is hard. You’re in a season of unexpected blessings. A relationship is keeping you up at night. You are trying to hold onto control, and you feel scared. But you also fear what it may look like to surrender to God’s authority.

In the book, “The Cost of Discipleship,” Bonhoeffer writes, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

To surrender to Jesus’ authority, he doesn’t just ask you to step aside. He asks you to die to yourself. He asks you to die to your old spiritual self. To die to lust. Die to pride. Die to self-reliance. In dying, we release control. And this is intimidating, until we realize that Jesus is not asking us to do something he has not already done.

How does Jesus use his authority?

John 10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

The Lion of Judah used all authority to willingly die like a lamb in our place. Conquering sin and death, he revealed all authority by physically rising from the dead.

To mock assumed authority, people will say, “Who died and made you king?” Jesus revealed that he was the true king by killing death.

The reason he asks you to die to yourself is so that you can experience the newness of resurrection. There is no resurrection of the new without the death of the old.

Is there anything in your life that you have not surrendered to Jesus’ authority? Your salvation? Your doubts? Your family? That sin? Your future? Your past?

If, before God, you are willing to surrender that to Jesus’ authority, I am going to ask you to stand.

Pray

Announcements/Benediction

If you stood… Care Ministry: Lunch and Learn, October 5th, after the final service - register online

We will celebrate baptism next Sunday.

I’ll leave you with the final words of Christ before he ascended into heaven…

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Go in peace.