Authority

[Prayer}

As we begin I want to share with you two quick stories:

The first one is about a family vacation trip. Like many of us this particular family was taking a road trip for their summer vacation. (this may seem very appropriate given it is Labor Day Weekend). And like many on such road trips they came upon a traffic jam that was backed up for miles. From where their family sat, they could see it was going to be a while.

The parents tried to keep their family entertained as the wait continued. Tow trucks rumbled past them as did all kinds of “incident response” equipment. By now people had turned off their engines knowing it was going to be a while. The people were getting out of their cars to stretch their legs. The family made their way out since traffic not moving in either direction.

With nothing else to do, they wandered forward to see what had happened to cause such a large back up. Walking around the bend in the road they immediately saw the problem. A large truck hauling equipment had become lodged in the entrance to the upcoming tunnel. Tow trucks had tried, but it was stuck, and to pull too hard might cause more damage to the tunnel entrance.

Men and women in hard hats stood around consulting with one another, and with others via their cell phones trying to come up with a solution to the problem. Dad went down and talked to one of the engineers his young family followed, and listened as the situation was explained. They were told it’s going to be a while to figure this one out. Innocently, his daughter asked her dad, “Why don’t they just let the air out of the tires?”

Hearing her question, the engineer laughed then looked at the truck and realized that was the solution. They’d been focused on the load the truck was carrying and how it was wedged but had not been looking at the solution being in the truck or more accurately it’s tires.

The second has to do with the space Shuttle Challenger. You may remember that the Challenger disaster happened on January 28, 1986 only 73 seconds after takeoff. The sad reality is that the cause of the disaster had been known about by engineers for a while. Many had raised red flags about the susceptibility the O-rings had to cold temperatures. But no one had listened.

Let’s read our text for this morning:

John 7:10–24 ESV

But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

I want to focus on the questioning of Jesus authority here.

A Question of Authority

Throughout the chapter we are given scenes of Jesus authority being called into question. The chapter opens with Jesus not go out in Judea because of the Jews who were seeking to kill him. We see his brothers telling him to go out “that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.”

Had his disciples not seen his works? I’m thinking we just came out of chapter 6 and had the feeding of 5000 from 2 fish and 5 loaves, and the walking on the water. Obviously the brothers had missed out on those demonstrations.

As we read we can see the sort of mocking tone that they have here - obviously they do not believe in him as we are told in vs. 5.

At vs. 14 we see Jesus go up into the temple and begin teaching. Questions are raised immediately - “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” They knew he had not learned what he was teaching from any rabbi they knew. IT was different somehow.

In other Gospels we hear repeatedly, “He taught as one who had authority”.

John 7:15 ESV

The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”

The word marveled here has more of a disparaging tone to it, which becomes more clear when you look at vs. 21. It’s not that they are looking at him and thinking, “Wow! You’re amazing and we want to follow you!” They’re after him, they’re seeking to discredit him.

The “one work” he did that this text seems to be pointing to is the healing of the invalid in John 5, because it took place on the sabbath. Saying they marveled is like putting air quotes around the work.

The key idea here is that they are more believing their teachers than the word of God. They are having what I would call a second hand faith. Its a faith based on what everyone else says rather than one that has explored the questions for one’s self.

Remember their teachers not only gave them the Law of God, they explained it by other laws and so the guide that God had given became like a millstone around the people’s neck.

How do we know?

How do we know if someone’s teaching is true? Jesus or anyone else’s for that matter? Jesus gives us the answer in verse 17.

John 7:17 ESV

If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

This reminds me of James admonition:

James 1:22–24 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

As I study the Scriptures it all comes back to one thing, and one thing only: our Relationship with Jesus.

It’s not about the rules, it’s not about the law, it’s not about doing all the right things. It’s all about our relationship with God. I can take you through the Bible and we can see it has always been about relationship.

Back in the garden we see that Adam and Eve made it about the Law about the rule when they chose to decide on their own whether or not to trust God. They decided they didn’t and to eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil because they thought somehow God was holding out on them. They didn’t trust the relationship and what he had said.

Throughout the Old Testament - we read about law that is intended to bring us back to God. Instead, as human beings, caught in the trap of sin, we continue to make it about right and wrong, good and evil, and not about our relationship with God.

After some 613 commandments all pointing us to God in our sinfulness we continued to make it about the rules and not about the relationship. Isaiah captures this when God speaks through him,

Isaiah 1:11–15 ESV

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

There it is, relationship - Let’s be together says the Lord.

One Authority

That is what we were created for. It’s not about having all the laws memorized, it’s not about doing all the right things - though we should want to be doing what God asks of us - not because it’s a rule, but because our desire is to glorify God.

Jesus in the great commission makes this statement:

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

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.”

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have what is called "Baptist Day". It is a day when all the Baptists in the area are invited to the school because they want the Baptist dollars to keep coming in. On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center.

One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours proving that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection; the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds, an old, dark-skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium.

"Docta Tillich, I got one question," he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. "Docta Tillich" ... CRUNCH, MUNCH... "My question is a simple question," CRUNCH, MUNCH... "Now, I ain't never read them books you read"...CRUNCH, MUNCH... "and I can't recite the Scriptures in the original Greek," ..CRUNCH, MUNCH ... "I don't know nothin' about Niebuhr and Heidegger."..CRUNCH, MUNCH...He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate,------was it bitter or sweet?"

Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven't tasted your apple." The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr.Tillich, and said calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus."

The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform.

christinyou.net, Have You Tasted My Jesus

How do we prevent from having a second hand faith? We take our own faith seriously. Don’t just accept what any preacher says - it’s okay to question. I love what Jesus says in our passage this morning, “The one speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory”.

Think of those who gain credibility simply because of their position - we should respect the position of authority figures - teachers, officers, elected officials - but that doesn’t mean they are right!

Truth is truth - it doesn’t matter who the messenger is, what titles they have, what degrees they hold, or who they have studied under. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little girl holding her daddy’s hand asking an innocent question or an underling engineer who sees a problem with a small seemingly insignificant part.

Jesus authority, comes from God. His authority is with you as you seek to follow him.

I seek to give you the Word of God. I seek to give you Jesus each and every Sunday - however, if you disagree with something I say my hope is that you would let me know as one of Christ’s followers. We’re in this together.