The Authority of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning everyone:
So blessed to see you all here today, it is always a joy to gather with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
As you can see we are working on new items… trying to enhance and make things better for our worship experience. Slowly but surely the Lord is helping us do things better.
I sure appreciate each and every one of you.
Today lets being a new thought, a new piece of theology as we consider and know who Jesus Christ truly is in our lives...
So I want to walk us through a series of thoughts on the authority of Jesus Christ.
Now when we consider the life of Jesus, I want you see just who He is and not only see His power, but understand better what He has done in this world and in our lives and what He will continue to do...
So when you hear the phrase the “authority of Christ” - What comes to mind?
Are you thinking about His Power, His Salvation, Creation, Forgiveness, Majesty…I mean the list can go on and on… Everything we could say - rests in His hands…
So lets begin with the words Jesus spoke to the Disciples after the resurrection.
Matthew 28:18 is a fitting place to begin…
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
What does this mean?
That is what we are going to explore today as we walk through the Holy Scriptures, looking at what Jesus did and said while He ministered here on planet earth and also look at some post resurrection teaching that was given to the Apostles to teach to us.
So let’s begin...
So here is the first thought today....
1. The Authority of Christ is God given...
1. The Authority of Christ is God given...
So what do i mean here, I mean the authority of Christ, that power and place was given to Christ by God the Father.
Remember that God is one person, with three distinct and divine essences. Three in One...
Now in the 3rd and early 4th centuries, a man by the name of Athanasius, who is the Bishop of the Church of Alexandria
He was one of the first great theologians of the day, and is the first to truthfully defend and explain the concept of the Trinity, the 3 in 1. One God, yet three divine and distinct personalities, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
We could spend a lot of time talking about His works in defending against heresy.. but we need to move on...
Now lets return to our text …Matthew 28:18
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Here after the resurrection, Jesus is appearing to His disciples before being taken back into heaven and on this occasion, Jesus tells that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. V 18.
Who did Jesus receive this authority from my friends? Well it is the Father,
Listen to Jesus in John 3:35
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
The Father has chosen the Son, Jesus to be the one who will have authority, and I love this.. All Authority.
But what does that mean… what does it mean that Jesus has authority.
The authority that Christ has been given by the Father to execute on this earth ...was to speak and act on behalf of the Father, involved in this is forgiving sin, pronouncing judgment and giving eternal life to those who believe in Him ...
So the authority is board and encompasses much responsibility.
For instance ...
Listen to John 5:26-27
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
And also John 17:2
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
And then John 17:1-2, as Jesus spoke in the Upper room before leaving to go to the garden to pray that night, just a little amount of time before evil men would come to arrest Jesus.
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
You see my friends as we look through all these texts we see the truth that Jesus was acting on the authority and power that was given to Him by God the Father.
The work or responsibility that is intertwined in that authority is great, and we will talk more about that… I wanted you to know first off where the authority Jesus came from, it came from the Father.
Now lets move on and begin to took at the Authority of Christ and what all it involves in His work.
2. What Does Jesus Authority Involve?.....
2. What Does Jesus Authority Involve?.....
Now someone could easily come up with a “pat answer” and say that His authority involves everything and that person would be right. We know this to be true simply from the passage we began with today, Matthew 28:18, Jesus himself said that all power and authority had been given him...
And as we have just examined, His authority was given to Him by the Father.
But lets break down and consider some of the individual topics that fall under His authority and see the joy associated with each one of them.
So here is the first one.....
A. Jesus has authority over nature....
One of my favorite one to see from this perspective is Jesus with His disciples on the sea of Galilee. And there are a couple different accounts of this… But we will look at the one in Luke 8:22-25
22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Jesus and his disciples are making their way across the sea of Galilee, and in the course of this journey Jesus has laid down, He has grown weary and his physical body needed rest. So He is asleep in the boat.
And the storm rages, the wind blows and the sea is getting very rough, so rough they are afraid that death might met them before the shoreline does… These disciples are very much afraid of death.
Finally, the disciples cannot put off waking Jesus any longer, they are almost frantic,, they say.. Master, we are perishing… the meaning here is lively, full of emotion… Master, we are about to die, don’t you care....
And he awoke, and rebuked the wind and the waves… I love the word “rebuke,” it is like severely scolding or chastising…
The only thing I can compare it for you here on ole planet earth is like when you were a child and you did something wrong… and then you you got the look and the talking too… you stopped what you were doing and went away quietly..
Jesus spoke and the sea was immediate still, the winds calm, the boat and its passangers were safe...
Why… Because Jesus has authority over nature…He is the creator of this world, Remember Col 1:15-16… I am not going to read it right now, but you can do that later. The one who made the world is in charge of it and all that happens there in… He has authority over nature...
B. Also, Authority over Sickness....
As we walk through the Scriptures we see that time and time again, Jesus healed the sick. It didn’t matter what disease or condition it was… every person the Great physician saw was restored.
For instance, Matthew chapter 8, verses 14 and 15 we find Peter’s mother in law sick, a fever has ravaged her body and truly she will not do well without help. Lets look at the text
14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.
All the Master had to do was touch her and the fever was gone. What ever aliment that caused the fever to begin with, was cured, and she was completely well.... not on her way to heath, She was healthy and well.
In Mark chapter 10, we find Jesus with his disciples coming into Jericho where a blind man began to call for Jesus once he heard he was passing by… and Jesus called for him to come..
49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
Don’t you love it…He recovered his sight immediately… Jesus, being the Son of the living God, the 2nd person of the Trinity had authority over every aspect of a persons life. And being found sick or in need, He healed them and made them whole.
C. It Involves Authority over Sin....
Jesus has authority over sin, as such He can forgive Him, one of my favorite passages comes to us from the Gospel of Luke, it is here we find Jesus teaching in a house and everyone that can is there to hear and see Jesus.
Now the story tells us that 4 friends brought a man to see Jesus. One who was paralyzed and unable to walk and finding no way into the house they cut a hole in the roof and lowered the man down to see Jesus.
Upon seeing the man, Jesus tells him that His sins were forgiven...
Luke 5, verse 20-25
20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 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.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.
With this man, Jesus proved his authority to the crowd and the religious leaders of the day. Jesus knowing their hearts said which is easier, to say your sins or forgiven or arise and walk? But so that you know I have the authority to forgive sin, I say to you arise and walk and immediately he was restored and walked out carrying His bed.
You see the religious leaders were right that day, only God can forgive sin and He was seated before them on that day.
And the last one I will share with you is the truth that He has authority over death.
D. He has authority over death....
Many times as Jesus ministered with His disciples, there arose a need that would seem impossible to everyone, but not to Jesus.
Two of my favorite accounts are from Luke 7 and John 11. In look & Jesus is passing through the town of Nain, and there he encounters a funeral march, on their way to the cemetery and Jesus changes everyone’s direction that day.
The passage is Luke 7 verses 11-16, but we are going to look at verses 13-15
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
The Savior is so wonderful, seeing a mother’s grief that day compelled him to turn her sorrow to joy. For he raised her son from the dead and gave his life back to her.
Wow can you Imagine....
And in John 11, we know this story, Lazarus has been in the grave 4 days and yet Jesus tell them to roll the stone away and says ..
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Lazarus came out of that grave like nothing ever happened… why? Because the Master has authority over death, He is the author of life itself.
The last one I will share with before moving on to my last thought for today is this...
E. He has Authority over the Church....
The Scriptures tell us that Jesus has been made the head of the church, having all authority over it.
Colossians 1:18 says this
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.
Now lets take this one verse and just break it down and see that Paul is telling us here.
I will start with the phrase. “He is the beginning..” Jesus says simply always been my friends, he has never had beginning or ending.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
So God ( all three in the one) has always been, never had a beginning and will never have a ending. Jesus was born into flesh a finite period of time, but He has always been
Jesus said Himself in John 8:59
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Past, Present and Future, Jesus is the one true God
Next, the phrase the first born from the dead refers to Jesus being the first to come from the grave. Remember, Jesus died, was buried and rose again on the third day.
I Cor 15:20 tells us
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
And since God the father gave him the authority to lay His life down and to raise it up again, we will raise from the dead as well.
With this He has been given authority over the church, since we the church are called the body, we must have a head over us to lead and direct our every step and focus.
My friends, we have just touched the surface, He has authority in every direction and place but I would like to conclude to say that his authority works itself out in the truth that
3. Since all Authority has been granted to Him, He is Exalted....
3. Since all Authority has been granted to Him, He is Exalted....
The work of Jesus has brought him to a wonderful place in this world, He has been exalted… God has raised Him up and given Him a name that is above every name.
In the book of Philippians, we find that Jesus completed the work God the Father had brought him into this world to accomplish, to become a sacrifice for sin, and in doing so as redeemed mankind, He has restored to us the bods of fellowship with the Father....
So look at Philippians 2, verses 9-11
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so 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.
Because of what Jesus accomplished, verse 1-8, we find the therefore in verse 9. Because of this, God has done two things for His Son, the first is that He has highly exalted Him and the second being He has given Him a name above every name..
Listen God the Father places it in geographic terms, he has exalted him to the highest place. From the lowliness of a death on the cross He has now been exalted to the highest place, His glory having been restored.
And has as verse 11 says given Him the title of Lord… Wow.
He has been seated next to the Father, at the right hand of majesty, and has been named Lord over heaven and earth.
And then secondly, a name that is above every name… that name is most likely the meaning of the title Lord. Peter name a reference to a new title given to Jesus after his death, burial and resurrection as He preached at Pentecost.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
And it is he who receives both both honor and worship from the Lord. Ephesians 1:20-23 syas
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Wow, He has been highly exalted.
Every creature in this universe will acknowledge who Jesus is.. why, He is the object of our worship, He is the focus of our attentions and intentions and He is our hope for the ages to come.
The authority of Christ is a deep investigation, where by we could run off and study so many different directions, and as I said earlier, we have only scratched the surfae...
But let me ask you a question, Is He Lord in every area of your life?
Where are you struggling with that?
