One Having Authority
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
• Good Morning Church.
• Today’s message is called “One Having Authority”
• We will be focusing on Jesus’ core mission and purpose of teaching
• We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
• So, please turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 1.
• We will be examining verses 21 and 22.
• From these passages, we will have three key takeaways:
• 1) He Taught
• 2) He Amazed
• 3) He Had Authority
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
• Before we consider the text, please join me in prayer...
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
The following is an excerpt from Time.com as was reported last month:
As those working from home adjust to connecting with each other remotely, video conference hiccups abound.
And one such video conference issue became internet gold.
It’s easy to see why.
In this new normal for some, our identities just don’t translate so well to the whole team across a video.
That’s especially true if you’re a potato with a face.
Lizet Ocampo, who works as the department head at a nonprofit, went viral for morphing into a potato for a video call recently.
Ocampo had originally downloaded the filter for a looser happy hour on Friday night for fun, but she couldn’t figure out how to turn it off for the Microsoft Team meeting by Monday morning.
“My boss turned herself into a potato on our Microsoft teams meeting and can’t figure out how to turn the setting off, so she was just stuck like this the entire meeting,” Twitter user @PettyClegg shared.
It’s been liked over 945,000 times.
As humorous as this story is, it is a tragedy when preachers and teachers of the Word, step in the pulpit and put on the world’s filter.
And to a genuine believer who has the wisdom of discernment, those “entertainers” are no different than clowns on a stage.
Today we will see how Jesus modeled for us how a real preacher and teacher of the Word should act like.
And this takes us to our main text we will be studying today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
21 They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach.
22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Background
Background
Verses 21: They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue
Capernaum took its name from the Hebrew Kephar Nahum or “village of Nahum.”
It was a very prosperous fishing village located on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus made Capernaum His headquarters after His rejection at His home town, Nazareth.
A synagogue is a Jewish place of worship.
The Greek for the word “synagogue” means “to gather together.”
Synagogues originally came about after the Babylonian captivity of Isreal in 586 B.C.
For it was at this time that Babylon destroyed the temple.
These places of worship came about as a response to no longer having a temple.
Synagogues served as a place of worship and instruction in any area that had ten or more Jewish males, thirteen years of age or older, present.
Jews would sign hymns and expound on passages of Scripture just like churches do today.
It was a common practice for visiting teachers to be invited to read the Scripture and/or speak at synagogues.
This was a custom from which Jesus and apostles like Paul benefited from.
The fact that Jesus was invited to speak at this synagogue indicates that he had already established a reputation as a teacher.
And this takes us to the first key point from our passage:
1) He Taught
1) He Taught
Verses 21: and began to teach.
Jesus did not come to entertain.
Jesus did not come to put on a show.
Jesus did not come for applause.
Jesus came to teach.
This was His mission and purpose:
43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
So, teachers...
So, preachers...
Put away the fog lights and the laser show.
Put away the customs and the props.
Put away the $500 sneakers.
Put away the hipster cloth.
You are not called to be clowns.
The world has enough celebrities.
We are not called to come up with a catchy tagline.
We are not called for people to remember our creative one-liners.
We are called to preach Words of life:
63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
We are called to teach the Word of God.
We are called to preach the Word of God.
We are called to point people to Scripture.
We are called to to inspire people to remember Scripture, not our words.
Yes, we are called to preach the Word of God.
And not just the parts of the Word of God that will get us applause.
We are to preach it all.
Jesus taught using all of Scripture:
27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
So, what happens when we don’t teach all of Scripture?
We get heresy.
44% of American believers believe that Jesus sinned because of the lack of teaching the full counsel of God.
44% of Americans believers believe that Jesus sinned because they have no idea what the gospel message really is.
Do not be ashamed of God’s Word:
38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
And remember, it is those that love His words that truly love Him:
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
We don’t need another motivational speaker who sugar coats God’s Word.
We don’t need another entertainer who is afraid to preach the Word.
We don’t need another clown.
We need real men of God who depend on the Word of God.
We need real men of God who depend on the Holy Spirit:
34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.
And this takes us to our next point:
2) He Amazed
2) He Amazed
Verse 22: They were amazed at His teaching;
Jesus’ teachings where not His own.
Jesus’ teachings where not of His own initiative.
16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”
Likewise we are not to teach our own message but the message of the Father.
We are to preach and teach His commands.
For it is in His commands that we find eternal life.
Take a look at ho Jesus responded to those amazed with His teaching:
15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”
16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.
18 “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
If we are willing to do the Father’s will, then we will know of this true teaching that Jesus taught.
We will recognize the clowns that teach for their own glory.
And we will recognize the faithful that seek to glorify God.
And this takes us to our third and final point:
3) He Had Authority
3) He Had Authority
Verse 22: for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The very core and purpose of Jesus’ earthly ministry was teaching.
The performing of miracles and casting out demons accompanied his teaching and proved He was who He said He was.
But, they where not the core like teaching was.
Additionally, Jesus’ authoritative teaching, was in sharp contrast to that of the scribes.
Why?
The scribes based their authority largely on that of other rabbis.
There authority was on man-made or oral tradition and teachings.
The scribes’ interpretations or oral tradition became a second law to them that came to be as important, if not more important, as Scripture.
Similar to those who today place the teachings of the “church fathers” or “tradition” over the Word of God.
Please note the contrast of these two teaching styles as found in the Sermon on the Mount.
When Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said … but I say,” He was showing how weak and unfaithful teachings built on tradition really are.
Jesus’ very direct, personal, and forceful style of teaching was completely foreign those who heard Him.
All of Jesus’ teachings are built on the foundation of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Jesus spoke the things of His Father.
28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
Likewise we are to speak of the things of the Father too.
The heart of a teacher of the Word of God in found in humility:
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
In closing, please consider this:
There is a commonly known story that comes from the life of Martin Luther.
It is said that the devil approached Luther one day and tried to use the fact that every person is fallible.
He presented the Reformer with a long list of sins of which he was guilty.
When he had finished reading, Luther said to Satan, “Think a little harder; you must have forgotten some.”
This the devil did and added other sins to the list.
At the conclusion of this exchange, Martin Luther simply said, “That’s fine.’
Now write across that list in red ink, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
There was nothing the devil could say to that.
Yes, if we put our trust in Jesus, nothing can separate us from Him, including our past sins and present shortcomings.
Closing of Service
Closing of Service
Jesus said:
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
There is no way around it.
We are called to surrender to Jesus is we are to have eternal life.
Rejecting this truth is costly:
48 “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
I beg you to accept the truth as found in Scripture.
28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
So, accept the Good News of Jesus.
For He is the Way.
For He is the Truth.
For He is the Life.
All the Glory to God.
Amen.