Biblical Discipleship
Biblical Discipleship #2
Lordship and Authority
March 6th and 7th, 2004
Matthew 28
18 /Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in a the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” [1]/
-Notice that Jesus had authority. That is the umbrella of discipleship.
-He said to go make disciples by:
· Identifying people publicly with Jesus
· Teaching them to follow and obey Jesus’ instruction
-Last week we talked about the gap between believing and discipleship and the confusion that can cause.
-If we aren’t honestly following Jesus with our lives as well as our mouths we will have problems.
Luke 6
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (that is the same thing as OBEY)/ 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” [2] /
-In order to be simple and avoid confusion we must be BELIEVING/SPEAKING/ACTING the same.
-We are looking at some very closely related terms:
· Discipleship
· Authority
· Lordship
Luke 7
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel/.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. [3]/
-Jesus connected faith with authority. This man received his answer because he understood the principle of authority.
-This man had no problem with authority because he was in the military and understood the chain of command.
-People gave him orders and he gave orders.
-He was able to quench his natural spirit of rebellion and separate his self esteem from whether or not he could follow orders.
-One of the first real steps to discipleship is making Jesus Lord. When we do that we come under authority. We therefore have authority.
-You can’t have authority unless you come under authority.
· We are born with rebellion in our hearts
Proverbs 22
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. [4]
-Satan led a rebellion in heaven.
-The sin issue in the world is really a rebellion and authority issue.
-Who is in charge?
-Satan wanted it to be him. He got tired of God getting the glory and from his vantage point it looked doable. He probably said; “I can do that.”
-The rebellion spread to earth and Adam and Eve rebelled against God. They doubted His goodness and thought they didn’t need to follow Him.
-The whole issue of the Bible is; WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SERVE?
-Because of that it seems that the first whole sentence out of those little darling’s mouth is; “YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME.”
-I have had other people’s kids say that to me!
-A little child has this seed of rebellion it was born with because of original sin.
-Learning to bring a child under authority is one of the greatest things you do as a parent.
(Like the Susanna Wesley tract about breaking a child’s will without crushing their spirit. They don’t have to feel dominated or controlled, just submitted.)
-Salvation is establishing Jesus as the boss of me.
-It is returning to the Lordship of God that Adam and Eve walked away from.
-Damion Frederick gave me a testimony because he works in a jail. He said that most of the people he encounters in jail simply have an authority problem. (testimony from him if present)
-Possibly one of the greatest forms of child abuse is never challenging that will in your children.
-They yell at teachers, get fired, and sometimes end up in jail.
-They are limited where they can work because they can never work for someone they don’t really like.
· THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTHORITY IS FROM GOD
Romans 13
/Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. [5] /
-Authority is given to protect us.
-It is a safeguard to a society.
-The purpose of Godly authority is to keep order in a fallen world so we can tell them about Jesus.
-Speed limit laws aren’t given to limit you; they are given to keep someone from crashing into the back of your car.
-Authority gives you the protection you need to live safely in a fallen culture.
-We see King David coming under the authority of Saul even though he wasn’t a perfect authority.
-That showed tremendous character in him.
· BIBLICAL AUTHORITY BEGINS BY SUBMITTING TO THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS
Romans 10
8 /But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” e that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe [6] /
-Salvation is giving up your rights and life to Jesus.
-Our vision and I believe the New Testament is summed up in;
· The Great Commitment (take up your cross daily and follow me)
· The Great Commandment (love one another)
· The Great Commission (tell the world)
-Lordship is the pledge of a good conscience to follow Jesus in everything He commanded.
-It takes a quality decision.
-The theology of that old hymn was correct; TRUST AND OBEY FOR THERE’S NO OTHER WAY, TO BE HAPPY IN JESUS BUT TO TRUST AND OBEY
-The early church confession of JESUS IS LORD was a vital creed in the early church.
-Yet it has sometimes become a creed without corresponding actions.
-Faith without works is dead and incomplete.
Hebrews 5
/7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him [7] /
Matthew 26
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
-Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s will.
-This wasn’t an act. This is a real choice for Jesus. He could have said no.
/42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” [8] /
-Establishing Jesus as Lord is the submission of your will to His will.
-You do that by obeying His Word and His Spirit when your will wants to do something else.
Jesus as Lord
The second most frequent designation for Jesus in the New Testament is the title Lord. So important is this title to the biblical understanding of Jesus that it became an integral part of the earliest Christian creed. The first creed was the simple statement, “Jesus is Lord.” The title Lord is the most exalted title conferred upon Jesus.
Sometimes it is difficult for people in the United States to grasp the full significance of the title Lord. An Englishman came to this country in the decade of the sixties, and upon arrival spent his first week in Philadelphia becoming acquainted with historic landmarks, such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. In order to familiarize himself with American culture, he visited several antique stores that specialized in colonial and revolutionary memorabilia. In one such shop he saw several posters and signboards that contained the slogans of the revolution, such as No Taxation Without Representation, and Don’t Tread on Me. One signboard attracted his attention more than the rest. In bold letters the sign proclaimed: WE SERVE NO SOVEREIGN HERE. As he mused on this sign, he wondered how people steeped in such an antimonarchical culture could come to grips with the notion of the kingdom of God and the sovereignty that belongs to the Lord. The concept of lordship invested in one individual is repugnant to the American tradition, yet this is the boldness of the claim of the New Testament for Jesus, that absolute sovereign authority and imperial power are vested in Christ.
The New Testament word for Lord is the Greek word kurios. The word was used in several ways in the ancient world. In its most common usage it functioned as a polite word for sir. As our English word sir can be used in an ordinary sense and in a special sense, so it was with kurios. In England, men who are knighted are given the title sir, indicating the elevation of the common use of the word to the formal use of it.
A second use of the title Lord in the Greek culture was as a title given to men of the aristocratic class who were slave owners. This title was used figuratively for Jesus throughout the New Testament. He was called “Master” by his disciples. Paul frequently introduced his epistles by saying, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ.” The word he used was doulos. There could not be a slave (doulos) without a lord (kurios). Paul declared, “You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Here the believer is seen as a possession of Jesus. Jesus owns his people. He is not a despot or tyrant, as we might expect in an earthly slave/master situation. In fact, the irony of New Testament lordship is the irony that only in slavery to Christ can a man discover authentic freedom. The irony is pushed further by the New Testament teaching that it is through a slave/master relationship to Jesus that a person is liberated from bondage in this world. This strange and ironic twist in teaching is found particularly in the writings of the apostle Paul.
The third and most important meaning of the title Lord was the imperial usage. Here the title was given to one who had absolute sovereignty over a group of people. It is a usage that was usually understood politically.
Perhaps the most striking aspect about the title Lord was its relationship to the Old Testament. The Greek translation of the Old Testament used the word kurios to translate the Hebrew word adonai, a title used for God himself. The sacred name of God, “Yahweh,” was unspoken, often replaced in the liturgy of Israel with a substitute word, or by means of circumlocution. When a substitute title was used to replace the ineffable name of God, the usual selection was the term adonai, a title which called attention to God’s absolute rule over the earth.
In many translations of the Bible both Yahweh and adonai are translated by the English word Lord, though a distinction between them is found in the method of printing used. When Yahweh is translated, the word is usually printed with a capital letter followed by small capital letters: Lord. When adonai is the Hebrew word, it is printed “Lord.” Psalm 8, for example, begins: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!” The Hebrew would be: “O Yahweh, our adonai, how majestic . . .” Here Yahweh functions as the name of God and the term adonai is used as a title.
The Old Testament passage that is quoted more often than any other text in the New Testament is Psalm 110. Here we find something strange indeed. Psalm 110 reads, “The Lord says to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand!’ ” Yahweh speaks to Adonai, who is seen as David’s Lord and is seated at God’s right hand. In the New Testament, Jesus is the one who is elevated to the right hand of God and receives the title Lord. This is the title that is “above every name” and is conferred upon Jesus at his ascension. Thus, Jesus being seated at the right hand of God is elevated to the seat of cosmic authority where all authority in heaven and earth is given into his hands, and he receives the title Adonai that had formerly been exclusively restricted to God the Father. The exalted nature of the title can be seen not only from this context, but also from usage in its superlative form. When Jesus is called “Lord of lords” there is no doubt what is meant. Here absolute authority over all lesser authority is clearly indicated.
The title Lord functions so frequently in the life of the New Testament Christian community that the English word church derives from it. The Greek word for church is ekklesia, which is brought over into English in the word ecclesiastical. The English word church is similar in sound and form to other languages’ word for church. Kirk in Scotland, kerk in Holland, and kirche in Germany all derive from the same root. That source is the Greek word kuriache, which means “those who belong to the kurios.” Thus the word church in its literal origin means “the people who belong to the Lord.”
One puzzling note in the New Testament is the statement, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Some have pointed to this as a contradiction because Jesus says on other occasions that people do in fact profess that he is Lord without meaning it. Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with the somber warning, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord . . . ’ ” But he will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Matthew 7:22-23). Since it is evident that people can honor Christ with their lips while their hearts are far from him, and offer the words Jesus is Lord, what does the Bible mean when it says, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” ?
There are two ways in which we can answer this question. The first would be by asserting what is tacitly understood in the text, but left unspoken. That is, no one can say that Jesus is Lord and mean it, except by the Holy Spirit. That would be sound theology, and we have literary license to fill in the unstated qualifier. There may, however, be something more concrete in view here. At the time the text was written, Christians were considered enemies of the established order of Rome and guilty of treason for their refusal to subscribe to the cult of emperor worship. Repeatedly the test for loyalty to the empire was to be found in the public recitation of the words Kaiser kurios (“Caesar is Lord”). It was this oath that Christians refused to recite, even when it cost them their lives. When they were called upon to utter it, they would substitute the words Iesous ho Kurios (“Jesus is Lord”). Christians were willing to pay their taxes, to give honor to Caesar where honor was due, to render to Caesar those things that were Caesar’s. But the exalted title Lord belonged to Jesus alone, and Christians paid with their lives to maintain that assertion. What was in view in the biblical text, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit,” may have referred to the fact that in those days people hesitated to make such a bold statement publicly unless they were prepared to take the consequences.[9]
· THERE ARE LEVELS OF AUTHORITY
1 Peter 2
13 /Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. [10] /
-Some people will say, we follow Jesus but we don’t follow any man.
-The truth is that God has delegated His authority to men, even secular men in some cases and He tells us to obey.
· in the home
· policemen
· military
· coaches
· teachers
· in the church
· on the job
-If you disobey them, you are disobeying God.
-There is such a thing as unjust authority.
-The Word of God is the final authority.
Acts 4
16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
/18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” [11]/
-No one has the right to ask you to violate the Word of God or your conscience.
-If they are asking you to obey a legitimate law, do it.
-I have sometimes personally struggled with authority at different levels.
-We all have.
-It takes a tremendous amount of security to submit your will to an authority.
-I love what some teenage boys say; “I am so tired of people trying to run my life and tell me what to do so I am joining the Marines.”
-Check your life and your attitude. Are you like the Centurion, a man under authority?
-That is the way to have authority.
(Read the Book by Brother Hagin on the Believer’s Authority)
Philippians 2
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature a God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature b of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
/to the glory of God the Father. [12] /
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a Or into; see Acts 8:16; 19:5; Romans 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:13; 10:2 and Gal. 3:27.
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 28:18). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Lk 6:46). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Lk 7:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Pr 22:15). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ro 13:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
e Deut. 30:14
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ro 10:8). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Heb 5:7). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 26:36). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[9]Sproul, R. (1996, c1991). Following Christ. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[10]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Pe 2:13). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[11]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ac 4:16). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Or in the form of
b Or the form
[12]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Php 2:5). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.