Authority To Call - Mark 1:16-20 Series

Mark 1:14 After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.”

Introduction

What to Look for in a Dictator

We live in a culture that despises authority, and so we don’t really have many examples of a strong authority. Our President has nowhere close to the power of a king – lots of limits and checks and balances. Police officers have very specific authority just to enforce the laws, and nothing else. We don’t have slave owners. Employers have limits on their authority. So we just don’t have much in the way of strong authorities.

But if you were going to go to another country where there was a dictator, and you had several countries to choose from, what would you look for in a dictator? Or suppose you were in debt, and you had to sell yourself into slavery for the next 5 years or so to pay off the debt, but you could choose who your master would be – what would you look for in a slave owner? What sort of qualities would you look for before you would be willing to put yourself under the total authority of a leader?

Jot down a list.

• Intelligence – you want the king to understand economics enough to know what tax rates would result in the greatest prosperity.

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• Influence – you’d want your king to be able to handle other world leaders.

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• Benevolence – you want him to care about you and your needs, and to do things that will benefit you and others.

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• Wealth – you want your slave owner to be able to provide for your needs.

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• Importance – you want your work to matter.

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• As you work for him, you want your work to be going toward something worthwhile and important.

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• Strength – you want someone who can defend you and protect you.

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• And you want someone who can succeed in his important work, so that your efforts aren’t wasted.

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• Patience – someone who isn’t going to be harsh with you when you make mistakes.

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• Understanding – someone who really knows you, your strengths, weaknesses, gifts, passions, so he can utilize you in the best possible way, where you will be most effective and most fulfilled in your work.

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• Consistency – you don’t want someone who just blows with the wind, and constantly changes direction.

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As much as our culture hates authority, just think for a minute about what it would be like to be under the authority of someone who had all those qualities. Wouldn’t you agree that life would be much better under that authority than under no authority? Actually, life under any authority – even an evil authority is better than no authority. No authority is anarchy, and that is a nightmare wherever it happens. So authority is good, and the better the authority, the better life is.

In this Gospel, Mark is going to paint a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ that will show us the magnificence of many of his attributes. We all understand that the more you see and experience Christ’s attributes, the more you will love and trust him, right? So nothing is more valuable than getting a better glimpse of one of his attributes. And the attribute Mark wants to start with is Jesus’ authority.