Sunday Sermon

"Locating Authority"
[Mark 10:27-33]
August 6, 2006 Second Reformed Church

The day before, Jesus has gone into the temple in Jerusalem. He had thrown over the tables of the moneychangers. He had thrown over the chairs of the sellers of doves. He had chased everyone who was buying and selling out of the temple with a whip. And He condemned the sin -- the hypocrisy -- that was occurring in the temple. He said, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? [But] you have made it a den of thieves."

After Jesus finished teaching them, He was tired, and He and His disciples went back to Bethany to sleep.

The next day, Jesus went back to Jerusalem and back to the temple, and there He met up with the Pharisees and the scribes. And we remember that the scribes and the Pharisees wanted Jesus destroyed, out of the picture, killed -- He was a menace -- but they were afraid of the crowd that followed Him. So, when He returned, they, with the temple elders, confronted Him and demanded that He answer one of two questions:

"By what authority do you do these things or who gave you the authority to do these things?" The scribes, Pharisees, and elders wanted to know, as the guardians of the temple, what authority Jesus had to do the things He had done the day before. And/or, they wanted to know who gave Him the authority to do the things He did the day before. "You disturbed the peace of the temple, Jesus. We want to understand what authority You had -- who gave You the authority -- to cause such a ruckus in the House of God?"

And they were right to ask Him. The scribes and Pharisees and elders were right to demand to know the authority of someone who had so disturbed the regular worship of the temple. There is a system of checks and balances in the church, as it was in the temple, to assure that we are worshiping God rightly together. In our denomination, the Reformed Church in America, I have the authority and responsibility to preach whatever text I deem meet for us from the Scripture, and I have the authority and responsibility to make sure appropriate persons fill the pulpit when I am not here. The elders have the authority and responsibility to listen to what I say and to make sure it is biblical. They have the authority and responsibility to question me if they do not believe what I have said is in line with the Scripture, and if I have been wrong, they are to assure that I correct what I have said, or if I will not, they are to discipline me. I, on the other hand, have the authority and responsibility to teach, instruct, and discipline the elders. And you, even if you are not an elder, if I say something that is contrary to the clear teaching of the Scripture, or if you are unsure, you are to go to one of the elders, either for an explanation or for them to pursue correction. And so forth. We are to be about the pure and right worship, and if that is disturbed, different ones of us have authority to step in and address that.

However, the scribes, Pharisees, and elders were not right to ask Jesus about His Authority -- they sinned in asking Him -- because they weren't concerned about the purity of right worship -- they were upset that Jesus had disturbed their profiting off others. They were trying to trap Jesus -- to find a legal reason that they could turn Him over to the jailers, or worse. They were being hypocritical, because, as those who knew the Scripture, they knew very well why Jesus cleansed the temple, and that He was right to do so. But they were willfully ignorant of the signs and the testimonies that they had seen and heard about Jesus -- they were willfully ignorant concerning Jesus being the Messiah, the Savior.

Jesus knew exactly what they were doing and why. He knew they weren't interested in the truth of Who He is and what He was doing. So Jesus turned the tables on them, and He told them that He would answer their question if they would answer one from Him first. He asked them, "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?" Jesus asked them whether the message of John for which he called the people to repentance and baptism, was a message of his own creation, or if it was from God.

Well, what was John preaching? As Jesus came to be baptized, John spoke the fulness of his message: "'Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world This is he of whom I said, "After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me." I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.' And John bore witness: 'I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God'" (John 1:29-34).

The scribes, Pharisees, and elders were trapped. If they said that John's message was from God, then they would be admitting that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior, and they would have to explain why they had denied Him thus far. But if they said that John made his message up, that it wasn't true -- "they were afraid of the crowd for they believed that John truly was a prophet."

We in the Church are accountable to God that we teach and believe what is true. If anyone comes into the church teaching something that is against the clear teaching of the Scripture, especially with regards to Jesus and our salvation in Him Alone, such a person must be stopped and disciplined if he is a Christian. As Paul wrote, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8-9). And John warns us, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now in the world already" (I John 4:1-3).

The scribes, Pharisees, and elders were trapped: they could not say John's baptism was from God without exposing their sinful, willful ignorance of Jesus, but they were afraid to say it was not from God, because of the crowd, and because, if they really believed that John was preaching himself, they would expose their sinful negligence in not bringing John to account for his teaching. So they said, "We do not know." A lie, but a way out. So, Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by whose authority I do these things."

This is what the Psalmist wrote of: "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits in heaven laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill'" (Psalm 2:1-6).

The answer was clear: Jesus did those things in the temple by the authority of God, and Jesus was given that authority by His Father, God Almighty. That much is clear to us from the Scripture.

But where does the Church get her authority? Why do we say and do the things we do? How do we know what is right and pure worship of God?

"Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it'" (Matthew 16:16-18).

Our authority to be the Church and speak and act on Christ's behalf comes from Christ Himself. Jesus gives us the authority to be the Church and has called us into positions of leadership to speak His Word in the Church and throughout the world.

Since that is true, and since we saw last week that we are to pray boldly in faith, trusting God's Promises, knowing with surety, that if we pray in accordance with God's Will, not even a mountain can stand in our way, we can conclude two things:

We can and must warn against and expose abuses and false teachers in the church, and discipline those in leadership who stray from the clear Word of God. Those who lead are to be corrected in love when they err, and those who are antichrists, seeking to mislead and destroy the Church, must be exposed and removed from the Church. This is not an easy task, but it is why God gave us elders and ministers. Let us pray that they would faithfully live out their calls.

Second, we can and must teach and preach and do all those things that Jesus has set before us to do. Let us respond to the Word in faithful obedience.

Even today, having heard the Word of God, let us obediently and in faith, receive the elements of the Lord's Supper. Let us receive the bread and the cup believing what we have be taught from the Holy Scripture -- Jesus has lived, died, and risen to secure our salvation. He meets us right now in this supper and ministers to us with and by His Grace. And He is coming back for all of His people, and He will gather us together and restore us in a world without sin.

Let us pray:
Almighty God and Savior, we thank You for the clear Word that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Whose authority comes from God the Father. We thank You for giving us work to do and a message to announce and the authority to go forth in Jesus' Name. Make us faithful in all that we do and give us clear answers to the questions we shall meet. For it is in Jesus' Name that we are, Amen.