Power, Authority, and Responsibility
Notes
Transcript
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
A Clash of Responsibilities
A Clash of Responsibilities
Power
Power
The captain on the bridge of a large naval vessel saw a light ahead on a collision course. He signaled, “Alter your course ten degrees south.” The reply came back, “Alter your course ten degrees north.”
Authority
Authority
The captain then signaled, “Alter your course ten degrees south. I am a captain.” The reply: “Alter your course 10 degrees north. I am a seaman third-class.”
Responsibility
Responsibility
The furious captain signaled, “Alter your course ten degrees south. I am a battleship.” The reply: “Alter your course ten degrees north. I am a lighthouse.”
Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).
That story tells it all: there are some people who think that they have authority in any situation because they have power. They throw their weight around like they are the big Kahuna, the Head Man In Charge, or whatever term you might wish to use. It’s one thing to have power, and another thing to have responsibility. That Seaman had a responsibility, and that responsibility led him to stand against all the rank and power that Admiral could muster.
We talk about Jesus having power, and rightly so, because He does have power. The risky thing about power, however, is that it can be used arbitrarily.
We also talk about Jesus having authority, and, again, rightly so, because He does. In fact, as He declares in Matt 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Authority can be abused to the detriment of others and to the destruction of the abuser.
But responsibility can only be exercised properly for good. While the people in Galilee and Judea could see that Jesus had power and that He exercised authority, what they missed was that He was also doing what He did because of the responsibility that He carried. Mark would later record Jesus’ teaching:
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The preaching of the Gospel so that people would be saved from their sins, was in action. Jesus was destroying the yoke of the Evil One. The strongholds of sin and iniquity that held God’s people captive were being broken. The work would be completed as Jesus poured out His blood for the forgiveness of sins. That work began, however, when Jesus went to be about His Father’s business of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.
Now that parable has a powerful lesson just within itself: Words that do not line up with actions are lies, and repentant obedience is better than skin deep devotion. But both of these sons had sin in their actions. The first son broke the 4th Commandment, and the second son broke the 8th Commandment. If you notice, Jesus did not say that the chief priests and elders were correct; He only said that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the Kingdom of God because they believed John, while the religious leaders did not.
Jesus Himself, however, is the only Son who actually obeys both by action and intention, for as He said in John 8:29, He always does that which pleases the Father. When, before the foundation of the world, the Triune God willed to create the heavens and the earth and determined that man would be the apex of that creation, the three Persons of the Trinity agreed that the Second Person, the Logos, would do certain things that would forever distinguish Him from the First Person or the Third Person. It is the Logos who took flesh and dwelt among us. It is the Logos Who submitted Himself to the Father, not by compulsion, but willingly, and tasted death for everyone, not because He had to, but because He wanted to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God. To Him, the Father said “Son, go and work in the vineyard today,” and not only answered, “I go, Lord,” He did the work!
Say
Jesus did the work.
Now say it like you’re glad about it!
Jesus did the Work!
People ask “why are Christians so exclusive, so judgmental? Why do we insist that Jesus is the Way? Doesn’t God love everybody? Won’t He listen to the prayers of a good Buddhist/Hindu/Muslim/Packers fan?”
This isn’t about us - It’s about Jesus! You don’t get to dismiss the sacrifice of Christ for the sake of inclusiveness. The person who questions the power of Christ’s death and resurrection is despising the works of God! He makes God a liar!
2 Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. 3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.
The Church is His witness; no one else is allowed or equipped to fulfill this sacred mission. God doesn’t send angels, He doesn’t send animals, He doesn’t deputize despisers. No one by natural reasoning can bear witness to what Christ did on the Cross. It is by reasoning that one can know that Jesus died, but it is only by faith that you can know that Christ died for you!
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’
It is this sacred mission that separates the Church from every other element of society, the mission of being Christ’s witness. There are a lot of wonderful things to be done in the world, but only one thing that is a life and death issue.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
“taking hold of the heel, supplanter, layer of snares,”
was doing what he does, just being himself, when Esau came upon him. The world wants to justify itself, to find an alternative to the Gospel, to the work of the Lord. The Gospel sets the captive free, but the world wants to replace the Gospel. If we aren’t careful, if we stop delighting in the works of the Lord, we will fall for the bowl of red stew. The bowl of red stew looks good, but it has no meat. The bowl of red stew will satisfy your craving for a moment, but it will leave you hungry later, and it is not worth your birthright.
Don’t trade your birthright!
5 He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. 6 He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The difference between the righteousness of God and earthly notions of justice is so vast, its the difference between time and eternity. Earthly justice addresses earthly issues, but it never removes sin. James Bohman writes in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2021) that ““Critical Theory” in the narrow sense designates several generations of German philosophers and social theorists in the Western European Marxist tradition known as the Frankfurt School. According to these theorists, a “critical” theory may be distinguished from a “traditional” theory according to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human “emancipation from slavery”, acts as a “liberating … influence”, and works “to create a world which satisfies the needs and powers of” human beings” (Horkheimer 1972b [1992, 246]).
Like all human efforts to do God’s works independently of God, critical theory ignores what God has revealed, about Himself, about us, and about His work for us. Critical theory denies what David declared:
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; 8 they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. 9 He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name!
Don’t let the noise fool you, don’t let the applause fool you. The works of men address important things, and earthly wisdom offers great rewards, but they always involve you giving up the liberty that you have in Christ. The reason that they fail lies in the initial diagnosis of the problem. What they call systemic issues, the Bible calls sin, and where they put it in others, the Bible puts it right where it is - in all of us.
21 His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
There is nothing in that bowl of red stew that is as good as what God offers in the Bread and the Cup of the New Covenant - the True Food that Jesus offers, His Body and Blood. God declares through the Gospel that the solution to our sin problem, in all its manifestations, both personal and social, all the injustices of the world, are solved and resolved at the Cross, and apart from Him there is no salvation.
We can’t live for the praise of men; any more than a wife lives for the praise of anyone other than her husband or a husband lives for anyone other than the praise of his wife.
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
When God’s Church, led by the Holy Spirit, does the will of God, the world is often amazed, but that isn’t who we live for. Sometimes the world applauds the church, but often it rejects us because the light of Christ in you exposes the world for what it serves - the darkness of this present evil age. As long as God says “well done,” that will be enough.
27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
As the saying goes, “It ain’t bragging if it’s true.” The old song says, “Can’t nobody do me like Jesus!” Can’t nobody heal you like Jesus, can’t nobody love you like Jesus, can’t nobody save you like Jesus. He really is your friend because He, and He alone, is your Savior!
So let the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.